Buried Village 12 Feb 2006

Videos at bottom!

 
  IM003150 IM003151 IM003152 IM003154 IM003155  
 
  Before becoming the Buried Village, this area was the world-famous Pink and White Terraces. Hot water (geothermal) flowed down from the top, with wading / bathing pool terraces all the way up and down. Tourists would start at the cooler bottom, bathing in the warm water, and work their way up to the hotter top pools, then slowly come back down to the cooler bottom terraces. Now it's the "Buried Village" and museum. And a gorgeous waterfall. The White and Pink Terraces were popular tourist attractions up through 1886.

 
  IM003156 IM003157 IM003158 IM003159 IM003160  
 
  Until, a nearby volcano errupted - Mt Tarawera in 1886 Everything within kilometres was buried. 153 people were killed. In the 1930's a local family started excavating and opened it to the public. Starting walking through the excavations, a cute mushroom! They've been excavating for a while, but there's still more to go

 
  IM003162 IM003163 IM003164 IM003165 IM003166  
 
  Notice the white markers to the right and left of Bob - future sites to dig up What's left of the main hotel in the town A crate and a ladder can be seen A house of a resident. The walls and roof have been re-created

 
  IM003167 IM003169 IM003170 IM003171 IM003172  
 
  The steps down into the house show how much mud buried this area in the erruption. Recent rains have this local stream up over its banks, over the path even pretty flowers along the stream

 
  IM003173 IM003175 IM003176 IM003177 IM003180  
 
  Further in the Buried Village is a gorgeous waterfall of 30 metres tall Just beautiful from the base of the falls looking up another little waterfall further down Climbing back up to the Buried Village

 
  IM003181 IM003178 IM003179 IM003182  
 
  All these trails have steep steps, but are well-maintained paths. Lots of ferns. The whole path of the stream, and the valley topography was changed by the erruption From a little further left, Lake Tarawera is in the distance. Mt Tarawera, which was the errupting volcano that buried this area, is on the other side of that lake. That's a long ways away!

Videos of the waterfall at Buried Village.

0:19 Pan from the bottom of the waterfall, up to the top. AVI file

0:07 Small falls, looking downstream. AVI file

0:08 Bottom of the waterfall AVI file

0:23 Bottom of the waterfall, looking upstream, pan across the bridge (across Sue :-) to another baby waterfall downstream.

To parent directory

created with igal