In the belly of Mt Tarawera

By LIZ LIGHT

Giant steps are what you take when you skip and slip down the scoria slide. Then, at the bottom, in the guts of Mt Tarawera's crater, you laugh until the adrenalin levels return to normal.

Mt Tarawera blew its stack 118 years ago, so the craters - and there are several linked in a giant fissure - are young and raw. I imagine it's much like the surface of the moon.

Running into the crater, gravity is suspended as the scoria slips away beneath your feet. It's another world up there - more lunar than local.

There are three ways to get to the top: walk, take a four-wheel-drive or a helicopter.

I chose the four-wheel-drive, bumping and lurching as we made our way up, stopping from time to time to look at the flora and fauna. We left the 4WD on a plateau at the edge of the crater. On the far side half a dozen people, as small as ants, ran down the scoria slide. I could barely see them but heard their screaming and yahooing.

A leisurely hour's trek takes us around the edge of the crater to the summit. To the east we see across the plains and Mt Edgecumbe to the sea, White Island smoking on the horizon.

To the south we look across forest to Lake Taupo and Mt Ruapehu stabbing through a heat haze. The nearer views are best, though: the raw, jagged earth of the broken mountain, which was wrenched asunder by unimaginably violent and powerful volcanic forces.

At 5am on June 10, 1886, the mountain exploded, spewing huge clouds of boiling mud, hot ash and boulders the size of cars high into the sky. It was all over within an hour.

The village of Te Wairoa and its inhabitants were buried and the famous Pink and White Terraces, which took nature thousands of years to create, destroyed. At least 108 people, perhaps as many as 153, died in the eruption.

We lingered around the trig on the mountain top. In the west the 14 lakes that surround Rotorua shone in the afternoon sun.

Our guide told us that the day before the eruption, a mysterious Maori waka was seen on Lake Tarawera but it disappeared before anyone could hail it.

This and other weird portents foretold the pending disaster, but no one understood.

The time had come for us to leap off the crater's edge on to the scoria slide and down into the abyss.

Fun took over fear and all too soon I was at the bottom of the giant sliding slope, low in the crater, surrounded by cliffs of ochre, cream, ash and green. Colours of earth had been swirled together by the volcano's powerful forces.

The slog up and out of the crater wasn't as much fun as the slide down.

But there was a flask of tea and homebaked cookies in the back of the 4WD.

One cuppa down and the chopper flew in to take us back.

It rose gently, turned and flew up the fissure, across the guts of the mountain, weaving between the cliffs on either side of the canyon to a safe landing and lunch.

Who to contact

Steve and Judy Collins, Mt Tarawera NZ, organise the 4WD trips to the top of Mt Tarawera. They also arrange the chopper down.

Ph (07) 349 3714.

What it costs

A guided half-day 4WD/walking tour lasts about four hours and costs $110 adults, $65 children 12 and under. The office and departure point is in Fenton St, Rotorua.

When to go

The business runs year-round, depending on the weather.

What to wear

Sturdy closed-in shoes - not good ones, as they might get trashed - and a hat that stays on.

Mt Tarawera volcano