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Our tour of New Zealand took us south from Auckland through the Taupo Volcanic Zone to Wellington. We crossed the Cook Strait by ferry and boarded a train to Christchurch before catching a plane to Sydney. The photo above shows a view of the north end of the Kaikoura Range on the South Island. The wallpaper on this page is of course the Kiwi, one of the symbols of New Zealand. The Kiwis are a remnant species of flightless birds which once made up a large part of the New Zealand ecosystems. Some of the Moas, which survived unto the arrival of humans in New Zealand, stood eight feet tall!

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Auckland Region   dsc # File name Description 02836 Mt Eden Crater A 15,000 year old cinder cone in the heart of Auckland. The buildings of Auckland and environs are built on top of some fifty volcanoes. Mostly basalt, the cones and flows are between 600 and 150,000 years old. The available evidence suggests that volcanic activity remains a serious regional hazard. 02840 Paa on edge of Mt Eden The Paas were built on and around the cinder cones in the Auckland area for defensive purposes. 02890  Rangitoto Island The youngest volcano in the Auckland region, only 600 years old. The Maori tribes in the area witnessed the eruptions that formed the island. 02786 Rangitoto Rangitoto from the Auckland Sky Tower moments before lightning hit (see below) 02802 Coming Storm Rainbow in approaching storm. Moments after taking this photo, the tower was swaying in high winds, and a bolt of lightning hit overhead. What an introduction! 02820 Sky Tower The Auckland Sky Tower from Prince Albert Park area. Not very geologic, but a great view from the top! 02948   No, these birds aren't real, but they once were. They are Moas, the giant flightless birds that once dominated the ecosystem of the islands.

Rotorua and Taupo Volcanic Zone   dsc # File name Description   The Taupo Volcanic Zone is a system of rhyolite calderas and geothermal areas that occupy a graben-like structure running from offshore to the Tongariro volcanoes on the North Island. This map and more information about the region can be found at http://www.laketauponz.com/ourenv/volcanic.asp. 02928 Fumarolic monument near Rotorua Our first look at the Taupo Volcanic Zone was an eerie landscape and mounds and rock towers that resulted from a blanket of ash which smothered the landscape under many cubic kilometers. In places, the hot ash landed on springs or lakes, and the steam from the water sources rose through hot ash, leading to the hardening of the rock. Erosion has produced the strange shapes. 02967 Rotorua Caldera Lake Rotorua occupies part of a caldera, a huge depression caused by the collapse of a magma chamber following a colossal eruption of rhyolite ash about 22,000 years ago. Numerous geothermal features in the area show that magma chamber continues to be active. 02990 Pohutu Geyser backlit at sunset Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley (that's the abbreviated name, by the way) is one of the most famous of the many geothermal features in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Pohutu Geyser, shown here, shoots to heights of 30 meters or more, and may erupt 25-30 times a day 02974  Pohutu Geyser Pohutu Geyser from another angle 02984 Terraces at Whakarewarewa The superheated waters emerging from the ground in places like Whakarewarewa are charged with minerals dissolved from the rocks below. As the water cools, the minerals are deposited to form the terraces and pools that characterize many geothermal sites. 03075 Mist on Lake Okahuri We visited another geothermal area, Orakei Korako, the next day. The terraces and geysers were partially covered by the construction of Lake Okahuri in the 1960's, but a number of interesting features can still be seen. Access is by boat across the lake. 03142 Artist's Palette The Artist's Palette is a colorful hot spring deposit composed of sinter (silica) 03119 Looking out of entrance of Ruatapu Cave Ruatapu Cave may be an old explosion pit.  It is about 75 feet deep. The pool at the bottom of the cave contains acidic water. Beautiful fern trees grace the entrance. 03102 131AD Fault Scarp and Sinter Terrace A scarp formed here during an earthquake in 131 AD. Over the years, it has been covered by sinter deposits. 03148 Taupo Ignimbrite deposits The trail cuts expose pumice and ash deposits from eruptions of the Taupo Caldera in 186 AD. 03190 Taupo Lake Beautiful Lake Taupo occupies the caldera left behind by the Taupo eruption of 186 AD. The eruption produced hundreds of cubic kilometers of ash that blanketed the surrounding region 03175   Taupo Lake from the Village area 03156 Huka Falls channel Lake Taupo drains into the Waikato River, spilling through this narrow channel, and then over the spectacular Huka Falls. 03163 Huka Falls Huka Falls

Mount Ruapehu and Tongariro National Park   dsc # File name Description 03198 Ngauruhoe and Tongariro The Ngauruhoe and Tongariro massif. Clouds obscure the highest peaks, which are andesite composite cone volcanoes. 03212 Ruapehu The tallest mountain on the North Island, and a very active stratovolcano. 03209 Flank of Ruapehu Flank of Ruapehu. Note the layers of lava and tephra that characterize the interior of stratovolcanoes (composite cones) 03220  Ruapehu and lake Rotorua and small lake. Ruapehu last erupted in 1996. 03218 Ruapehu Ruapehu from the south. I was struck by a similarity to the St. Helens crater in this picture 03195 Grazing sheep I finally surrender and take a picture of NZ Sheep. Only because a volcano was behind them... 03217   Tephra deposits near Ruapehu

Cook Strait and the Marlborough Sounds   dsc # File name Description 03245   Early morning in Wellington Harbor. We didn't get to see very much of Wellington, but the local geology would have been great to explore! Several active faults are present in the area, accounting for the shape of the harbor, and the mountainous topography on which the capitol city is built. 03273   We traveled by ferry across 17 miles of the Cook Strait which divides the North Island from the South Island. At times, especially during the Ice Ages the two islands were joined due to lower sea levels. Tectonics have also played a part in the formation of the Strait, as a series of very active faults cross the region. Right lateral motion along the faults will eventually bring the islands back together in the near geological future. In this photo, we are passing the sea stacks at the entrance to Wellington Harbor. 03289   The Marlborough Sounds are an incredibly scenic system of drowned river valleys on the northeastern shore of the South Island. The sounds are shaped like typical river valleys, and extend miles inland. They were formed by rising sea levels following the Ice Ages, but the region also sank in response to tectonic activity along nearby faults. These rocks are Paleozoic-Mesozoic schist. 03295   A small sea arch at the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound, one of the Marlborough Sounds. Our port is some twenty miles inland from this point 03301   Some typical views of Queen Charlotte Sound. A beautiful trip! 03306   More of the Sound 03321   Approaching the port at Picton. The rocks lining the shoreline are schists that originated deep in the accretionary wedge of a subduction zone. These rocks have been carried miles into the crust, and have been changed from ocean-floor muds into mica schist by the extreme heat and pressure 03322   A closeup on an island in the Sound 03318   The small harbor town of Picton. We disembarked here, and caught the train to Christchurch.

The Seaward Kaikoura Range   dsc # File name Description 03342   The train from Picton to Christchurch lasted about 5 hours, and took us through spectacular scenery. The tracks often followed a narrow strip of land between the ocean and the 8,000-plus foot mountains of the Seaward Kaikoura Range 03333   The first part of the rail journey took us through Neogene-aged sedimentary rocks, including siltstone, shale and conglomerate. The original vegetation was removed long ago, and the mildly arid climate has prevented regrowth. Gullying was evident in a number of locations. 03351   It wasn't long before an imposing mountain range rose to the south. The Kaikoura Mountains are composed of graywacke sandstones that formed in the trench of a subduction zone. The rocks are part of the Torlesse Supergroup (this is the photo seen at the top of this page). 03364   The Seaward Kaikoura Range 3361   And then we were traveling along the coastline. 03381   The mountains seemed to grow higher and higher. 03385   Snowcapped peaks 03391   The mist was now rising. Have I mentioned that we were there in the dead of winter? That I was standing in an open-air carriage in near-freezing weather, moving at 50-60 mph? It was COLD! But who cared? This was some of the most wonderful scenery I have ever seen! 03398   Lone tree along the coast near the small town of  Kaikoura. It was once a whaling station, but today is a center for tourist whale-watching.

Christchurch and the Port Hills   dsc # File name Description 03461   Christchurch sits on floodplain deposits derived from the erosion of the Southern Alps. The beautiful Avon River flows through the center of town. 03469   After touring the town center, we drove up into the Port Hills to get a larger view of the region. The Port Hills and Banks Peninsular are the eroded remnants of volcanoes that erupted several million years ago. They are long extinct. After a long period of erosion, rising sea level filled the river channels, forming Lyttelton Bay. 03473   More of Lyttelton Bay 03475   Looking east towards the mouth of the Bay 03497   From viewpoints in the Port Hills, we could look across Christchurch towards the Southern Alps, which have risen along the Alpine Fault. Something like 30,000 feet have been removed by erosion. The detritus forms the floodplains on which Christchurch has been built. 03493   We climbed on the volcanic rocks of the Port Hills 03520   We couldn't get up close to the Southern Alps, or the incredible glaciers around Milford Sound, but as we flew to Sydney, we had a fleeting glimpse of Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand.