Hot Springs of New Zealand - Orakei Korako, Champagne Pool, Hanmer Springs, Parakai, Hot Springs in New Zealand, Hot Water Beach, Wai-O-Tapu (Paperback)

Chapters: Orakei Korako, Champagne Pool, Hanmer Springs, Parakai, Hot Springs in New Zealand, Hot Water Beach, Wai-O-Tapu, Te Aroha, Miranda, New Zealand, Waiwera, Waiwera Hot Pools, Ngawha Springs, Frying Pan Lake. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 43. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Orakei Korako (Mori for The Place of Adorning), is a highly active geothermal area most notable for its series of fault-stepped sinter terraces, located in a valley north of Taupo on the banks of the Waikato River in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. It is also known as The Hidden Valley. From earliest times the Waikato Valley near Orakei Korako was occupied by Mori of the Ngti Tahu sub-tribe of Tuwharetoa. By the early 1800s the Mori population had congregated at Orakei Korako, probably attracted by the hot springs, which were used for cooking and bathing. The date when the Ngti Tahu vacated the valley to settle at other locations is not recorded, but it has been suggested that they left after the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886, when great changes are alleged to have occurred in the hot springs. By the turn of the century all but two families had moved from Orakei Korako. The earliest known route from Rotorua to Taupo for early European travellers passed right through Orakei Korako, and it was the existing Mori who provided a dug out canoe for the river crossings. It was at this point in the early 1900s that the geothermal area was established as a visitor attraction. To transfer visitors across the then-swift Waikato River they used the dug out canoe, until in the 1930s a wire-strop and pulley system was erected across the river, and a punt with a guiding rudder was used to catch the flow and propel the punt to the other side. The tourist resort was officially opened on 15 December 1937. Th...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=301688