Shaping a land

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Day 11 of my trip has a clear focus on nature and the creation of New Zealand. Having stayed in Rotorua, we still have a few sights to see nearby and on our next leg to Napier, 224 km away.

The first stop is the Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley, just on the edge of Rotorua. This is as old Maori meeting place (the name means something like the gathering place for the war parties) and the local tribe have done a lot to maintain, supplement and manage the site. After having been greeted by our guide and given a little introduction to the project, the local history, and attempts to set up a Maori craft centre of excellence for wood carving and weaving, we walked towards the valley where the sight just relegates any of these admirable human activities into near insignificance. The eruption of a couple of large geysers, Pohutu being the largest at 15-30 meters high, together with bubbling mud pools and steam hissing out of countless cracks in the earth's surface, is very humbling. There is no human input (except for the board walks and safety notices) and mother nature does all this without any help from us, and in the process, produces constant flowing hot water all over the area.

For me, this kind of sight is just amazing. I could spend all day just watching the spectacle, and feeling the might of the underground power. I remember at secondary school learning that no energy source was inexhaustible, but this force from below the surface of the earth gives the impression that it’s here for the foreseeable future.

I don’t want to sound as if the human activities at the Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley are not worthy of comment. The Maori tribes used weaving for clothing, cooking baskets, homes and probably many other functions, and keeping these skills alive contributes to the vital awareness of New Zealand’s pre-settler times. Talking to various Kiwis since, I conclude that a generation or two ago, there was no pride or celebration in Maori ways or values. This has changed a lot recently, and is still undergoing more change, as the many interested parties discuss every issue so that a fair and beneficial balance can be reached. I really hope it is not too long before the right balance is reached, and projects like the weaving and carving here can help a lot. The carving impressed me here as the major project is a 10m high cultural portal that will be the New Zealand centrepiece at the Shanghai World Trade Expo in the autumn of 2010. The carving is taken from one tree trunk, and has great significance for relations between New Zealand and China as it combines an upturned war canoe (this is a sign of great respect), and a doorway (to show peaceful and positive intentions).

There was one other feature of this visit. New Zealand uses ferns as a national emblem for sports and other activities, and in some cases, the curled up fern is used to show a fresh beginning. This features on some Maori jewellery and a fair amount of artwork, and during the walk today, we saw a curled up fern in the bush (see picture).

Do you remember the Monty Python piston engine sketch? Well, I felt a bit like that at our next stop. It was raining lightly, and when we arrived at the Wairakei Geothermal Power Station, I seemed to be the only one who wanted to get out and investigate. To me, this was a huge bargain where for the last 50 years, they have been drilling down about 2km to the sub-surface hot water pockets and piping this up at about 250 degrees C to generate electricity. Once at the surface, the steam and water has to be separated, then the steam is sent in highly insulated pipes to the generators for something close to very cheap power production. Of course, what is even better is that it’s clean and sustainable.

Next stop was a lunch break in Taupo. This town is noted as having the largest lake in New Zealand. I have to confess, it didn’t do anything for me - I have seen so many more spectacular lakes, so if anyone out there is planning a trip, I suggest you leave Taupo off the schedule. Unless of course, you like unusual fast food places. For me, the one thing that stood out in Taupo was the fact that some bright spark had tried to land an aeroplane on top of a fast food joint. And, you can probably guess, it is of course a Mc Donald Douglas plane.

Now, the coach travelled from an area quite obviously moulded by volcanic activity, to an adjacent area heavily influenced by seismic activity - as in the movement of tectonic plates. We headed for the coastal town of Napier which, together with its neighbour Hastings, was completely destroyed in 1931 by a massive earthquake. As a result, the town (which became about 20% larger due to rising land as a result of the plate movement), was rebuilt in Art-Deco style. It is now arguably the most complete example of Art-Deco architecture in the world. A wander down the shopping street for example shows that the upper story of every shop is decorated with the twists, spirals, lines and shapes that define the style. As in all New Zealand towns, there is a museum here, and although it was not obvious what the local link some of the exhibits was, there was a superb collection of filmed interviews with survivors of the quake.

So, today has been quite dramatic as far as the power of nature is concerned. Tomorrow is my last day with the coach group. We’ll head off to Wellington.

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Photos

A lot of hot steam
This geyser near Rotorua erupts a coupleof times every hour

Curled up fern
A sign of new growth - used in New Zealand art

Carving for China
Early stages of the Culture Portal for Shanghai

Clean sustainable power
The picture shows insulated pipes taking steam to the generator. What you see is steam, not smoke.

Fast food on flights
This Mc Donald Douglas has been parked on top of MacDonalds in Taupo

Art-Deco city
Napier is full of Art-Deco buildings as it had to be rebuilt after a huge earthquake in 1931.