Landscapes of the North Island
“I still think New Zealand the most beautiful country I have ever seen. Its scenery is extraordinary. Everywhere the beauty of the countryside is astonishing.” Agatha Christie in 1992.
The North Island / Te Ika-a-Maui is the smaller of the two main islands of New Zealand, and more populous than the South Island. The scenery ranges from sandy beaches through rolling farmland and forests to active volcanic peaks with bubbling mud pools. The North Island is positioned above a geothermal system, allowing the Earth’s crust to be weakened and rocks to be heated up. This manifests itself as geothermal activity in the form of hot springs, mud pools, geysers, and volcanos at the surface. The North Island has a spine of mountain ranges running through the middle, with gentle rolling farmland on both sides. The central North Island is dominated by the volcanic plateau, an active volcanic and thermal area.
The far north of the North Island is the 205 mile peninsula north of Auckland, a forested, sub-tropical region framed by the Tasman Sea on the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. The western coast is dominated by several long straight beaches. Famed for its sandboarding dunes, Ninety Mile Beach stretches along the west coast toward Cape Reinga. The east coast is more rugged, dotted with bays and peninsulas. The Bay of Islands is studded with sheltered beaches, wineries and colonial-era towns like Russell. It’s also home to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, a historic Maori site. The area is dominated by the ancient and majestic giant kauri trees. They are massive, straight trunked trees. The oldest kauri tree, Tane Mahuta meaning lord of the forest, is a mere 52 metres tall but with a girth of more than 13 metres and an estimated age of over 1,250 years.
Auckland, known as the City of Sails, is set between two harbours. It lies on and around an isthmus, around a mile wide at its narrowest point and has a coastline of 2,300 miles. Auckland is the only city in the world built on a basaltic volcanic field that is still active and is home to over 50 volcanoes. Waitemata Harbour, the sea of sparkling water, is the eastern harbour and leads out to the Hauraki Gulf. The gulf is home to 50 islands which provide a refuge for both endangered wildlife and city weary humans. The wild west coast of Auckland with its dramatic black sand and wild surf contrast with the pleasant, placid, white-sand beaches of the east coast. The Coromandel Peninsula, east of Auckland, is steep and hilly, and is largely covered in temperate rainforest. It extends 53 miles north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a naturial barrier to protect the Hauraki Gult and the Firth of Thames in the west from the Pacific Ocean in the east.
Waimangu Valley near Rotorua was created by the eruption of Mount Tawawera in 1886 which tore a gash into the land around its base and is the world’s youngest geothermal system. One winter’s night in 1886, the volcano exploded, burying the surrounding area under a layer of mud and obliterating its famous silica terraces. The violence of the 1886 eruption is still evident even from a distance. The mountain’s summit is non-existent, instead it has a giant, gaping crater. When it blew, the mountain opened and ripped an 11 mile fissure, creating a new lake and the thermal Waimangu valley and erupting enough material to blanket 6,000 square miles around it. Lasting about three hours, the eruption hurled red hot volcanic bombs and pieces of solidified lava 8.5 miles, and the Maori villages of Te Ariki, Te Wairoa and Moura were buried under 20 metres of mud. The eruption destroyed the surrounding area and killed 153 people. The explosion’s roar was heard in Christchurch and Auckland. Lake Rotomahana exploded to 20 times its size. Plant life returned to the devasted land 30 years after the eruption. It is the only geothermal system in the world created within written history and is the only one that has not be altered by man’s activity. Reestablishment of plant life has been completely natural. Birds, wind and the action of the eruption itself have deposited the seeds and spores, and this accounts for the exotic species that are present with the natives. There has been no planting by man. The geothermal aquifer is 23 square miles in size and at a depth of at most 2 miles below the Earth’s crust.
Te Puia is an extensive geothermal park in Rotorua. The main attraction is the geyser flat, a moonscape silica terrace of about 2.5 acres pierced by seven active geysers. Two geysers are very reliable. The Te Tohu geyser, also known as Prince of Wales Feathers, regularly spouts hot fountains about 12 metres high and heralds the awakening of the Pohutu geyser. The Te Tohu geyser first sprang to life in 1886 following the eruption of Mount Tarawera and has erupted almost continuously since 1992.
South of Rotorua lies Orakei Korako, the hidden valley
The western side of the North Island has many contrasts from active volcanoes to gentle pasture through to the windy capital of Wellington.
