Bella Bella tours Taupo

Hey, did you know that lakes can sit inside volcanoes?

In fact, when volcanoes aren’t busy spewing molten lava and hot ash all over the darned place, they can make great basins to hold water.

And so it is at Lake Taupo, on New Zealand’s North Island. Taupo is the biggest lake in the country, with an area of 616 square kilometres.

26,500 years ago, a volcano blew itself to smithereens here and left a gigantic hole, or “caldera.” The modern lake sits in part of this caldera.

Another big eruption happened about 1,800 years ago, and it blew so much ash into the atmosphere that even the ancient Romans and Chinese noticed, thousands of kilometres away. When they wondered why their sunsets were so red and beautiful, they didn’t realize that it was because of ash from New Zealand!

People who live on the shores of this lovely lake know that the Taupo volcano is really just sleeping, or “dormant.” They don’t mind. 

The place is gorgeous, with lots of boating, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, and even bungy-jumping nearby.

Say, did you see the “Lord of the Rings” movies? Those movies were filmed around here! My friend Suzanne even met Orcs while we were in New Zealand …

 No worries!

One of the ways you can tell that Taupo is volcanic is by all the hot springs, geysers, and bubbling mud pots nearby. This is all called “geothermal energy.” Water heated naturally by the Earth can be used for lots of useful things, like heating buildings and greenhouses, generating electricity, or filling swimming pools.

 

The Craters of the Moon is an “active geothermal field.” 

A boardwalk leads around steaming vents and holes, called “fumaroles.” 

I was warned not to step off the boardwalk, because the ground here can be very hot for a barefoot bear.

  See the flag to my right? That is the flag of New Zealand, featuring a constellation called the Southern Cross. I also saw the stars of the Southern Cross in the sky at night above Lake Taupo – it was really beautiful. Here is a star chart ("Crux" means "cross" in Latin):

  At the Huka Prawn Park, geothermal energy heats the water to raise freshwater prawns. The ponds produce up to 32 tonnes of prawns a year – mmm, yummy!

 

(oh, I shouldn’t say that too loudly, or Shawn the Prawn here might pinch me …)

Over thirty rivers and creeks flow into Lake Taupo, but only one river flows out: the Waikato.

  This pool overlooks the Waikato River at a beautiful resort called Huka Lodge.

  At Huka Falls, the Waikato narrows from about 100 metres across to just 15 metres. The result is a thundering waterfall! In the Maori language, the word “huka” means “foam.” That’s perfect!

   This nice lady helped me put on a raincoat to ride a jet boat to the foot of Huka Falls.  

The jet boat did 360s as we roared along the river! There was lots of  splashing, and some screaming (but not mine).

Wearing a raincoat on the jet boat reminds me to tell you the story of Tia. 

Now, in the Maori language, “taupo” means “cloak.” Legends say that long ago, a hero named Tia discovered the lake, where he saw a cliff that resembled his rain cloak. The lake’s full name is “Taupo-nui-a-Tia,” meaning “the great cloak of Tia.” By the way, you should pronounce Taupo to sound like “toe-paw” (yup, I like that).

Much more recently, in the 1970s, an artist named Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell carved a cliff with the face of another great Maori ancestor, Ngatoroirangi.

The carving is ten metres high, and you can only see it from a boat on the lake.

 

At the end of a day filled with touring and fun, I relaxed back at my hotel, enjoying the view over one of Taupo’s vineyards.

Like geothermal energy, that’s another good thing about volcanoes: volcanic ash contains useful minerals that make the soil really fertile! So while you might have to be alert when you live near a volcano, it can give back lots of useful things to make it worthwhile.

Star chart courtesy Wikipedia
Story © S. Clouthier

Photos © S. Clouthier and D. Wei