Pink & White Terraces found (probably)

[nishatalitha]

Link to the Stuff article here. How cool is that? They were buried in 1886 when Mt Tarawera erupted, whic coincidentally, is the year one of my great-great grandmothers was born.

Just imagine what they'd look like with the silt gone, even underwater.

I don't want disaster tourism, I want the time travel to go back and see what things looked like in their heyday. Quite happy just to look, but I want to see things at their best.

Comments

[deepbluemermaid.livejournal.com]

I find this so fascinating! I did a big project on the Tarawera eruption in Form 1, and I've been interested in it ever since. We went on a family trip to the Rotorua area, and took a boat cruise over Lake Rotomahana - I remember being told that the terraces, if they still existed, were dozens of metres beneath us. We also took a 4WD trip up Mt Tarawera, and got to run down the inside of the crater. Very, very cool :)

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

Yes, one of the reasons I'm interested in it was because of a school project. I don't think it was a particularly big one, but I did a fair amount of extra reading as you do (either that or I saw history books on it and got them out of the library).

I've never done a boat cruise over Rotomahana, but one of the earliest Christmas tramps Grandad B took the family on was climbing Mt Tarawera (we were collected by cars from the top), and we walked parts of Lake Tarawera several times on other Christmas tramps.

They seem to be in amazing condition from those photographs.

[anarchangel23.livejournal.com]

That's awesome! I'd be all over that time travel trip; I'd love to have seen those in their prime.

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. However, if they ever started up a submarine tour I would so do that (only of that area, and avoiding tapu areas since the whole lake isn't tapu). Especially if they very carefully managed to blow some of the silt off, but even if they didn't.

Although I note that one of the primary interests in them is the geothermal power potential...

[michanna.livejournal.com]

Cool! I heard about them when I was there and saw a painting in a museum and was sad they weren't still around.

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

We have a big hole in the ground instead. If I can't have time travel to see them as they were, I want a submarine tour to see them now. You should be able to avoid tapu areas and still see the remains of the terraces.