Lake Taupō is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's northeastern shore. With a surface area of 616 km2 (238 sq mi), it is the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand, and the second largest freshwater lake by surface area in geopolitical Oceania after Lake Murray in Papua New Guinea. Motutaiko Island lies in the southeastern area of the lake.
Mount Taranaki is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At 2,518 metres (8,261 ft), it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. It has a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak, 1,966 metres (6,450 ft), on its south side.
Tongariro National Park is the oldest national park in New Zealand, located in the central North Island. It has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site of mixed cultural and natural values.
Mount Pirongia is an extinct stratovolcano located in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It rises to 959 m (3,146 ft) and is the highest peak in the Waikato region. Pirongia's many peaks are basaltic cones created by successive volcanic eruptions between the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, about 2.5 million years ago. In the adjacent picture, the characteristic profile of the mountain can be seen, along with a prominent accessory cone to the right.
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natural resource to be given its own legal identity, with the rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person. The Whanganui Treaty settlement brought the longest-running litigation in New Zealand history to an end.
Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park.
Pomona Island is the largest island within Lake Manapouri, in Fiordland National Park, in New Zealand's South Island. With an area of 262 hectares, it is the largest island to be found within any New Zealand lake.
Cranfillia fluviatilis, synonym Blechnum fluviatile, is a fern known in the Māori language as kiwikiwi. A herbaceous plant, C. fluviatilis is a "hard fern" of the genus Cranfillia in the family Blechnaceae. It was identified by Patrick Brownsey in 1979. Other common names are star fern, creek fern, kawakawa and kiwakiwa.
The Sugar Loaf Islands are a collection of five small uninhabited islands and several sea stacks near Port Taranaki, New Zealand.
Lomaria discolor, synonym Blechnum discolor, commonly called crown fern, is a species of fern in the family Blechnaceae. This species is endemic to New Zealand. As noted by C. Michael Hogan, this species is found in a number of forest communities in diverse locations within New Zealand, and is sometimes a dominant understory component.
Alseuosmia is a genus of five species of flowering plants in the family Alseuosmiaceae, growing in New Zealand's North Island. Species members are characteristically small evergreen shrubs. An example occurrence of species representative Alseuosmia macrophylla is in the habitat of the Hamilton Ecological District, where Blechnum discolor and B. filiforme are understory elements with a Nothofagus truncata and Dacrydium cupressinum overstory.
The Spenser Mountains is a topographic landform in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern end of the Nelson Lakes National Park and north of the Lewis Pass they form a natural border between the Canterbury and Tasman regions. Several peaks are named after characters in Edmund Spenser’s allegorical poem, The Faerie Queene. Many of the early explorers were evidently literate men. For example, Frederick Weld named Lake Tennyson; William Travers named the Spensers and Faerie Queene; Julius Haast named Mt Una.
Ascarina lucida, commonly known as hutu is a species of small tree in the family Chloranthaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand, being common on the West Coast and Nelson regions of the South Island and more rarely found in the North Island. A typical plant association is within the Westland podocarp/broadleaf forests with common understory associates of Blechnum discolor, Pseudowintera colorata, Neopanax colensoi and Coprosma lucida. Most genus members are dioecious, producing unisexual male or female flowers on separate plants. Ascarina lucida, the only member of its genus to occur in New Zealand, is monoecious. It will grow to a height of 6m and can have a 30 cm trunk. The leaves which are in opposite pairs are simple, yellowish green in color, have a raised mid rib and are very similar to Laurelia novae-zelandiae. Their margins have prominent teeth which are dark colored at the tips. Ascarina lucida is now nearly extinct in the Taranaki region but was last reported in Oct 1969 at Mt Taranaki, near Pukeiti by Colin Ogle.
The North Island temperate forests, also known as the Northland temperate forests, is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion on New Zealand’s North Island.
Karioi or Mount Karioi is a 2.4 million year old extinct stratovolcano 8 km (5.0 mi) SW of Raglan in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It was the earliest of the line of 6 calcalkalic volcanoes, the largest of which is Mount Pirongia. Karioi forms a background to many parts of Raglan.
Tataraimaka is a rural coastal area in Taranaki, New Zealand. It is predominantly a dairy farming area, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of New Plymouth. Tataraimaka is located south of Ōakura and north of Ōkato. The Timaru River passes through Tataraimaka on its way from Mount Taranaki. The area lies close to the Kaitake ranges at the foot of mount Taranaki, and consists of steep farmlands which overlook rolling pastures, intercepted by many creeks and rivers leading to the rocky, west coast shoreline. The area is well known for its beaches. Weld Road Beach is a popular surf beach with the locals. The area is becoming increasingly popular for people building lifestyle properties. There are many hiking tracks available to the public which traverse the Kaitake Range. One of these treks is the Boars Head Mine track, which takes hikers to a historical gold mine.
The Ahukawakawa Swamp is an area of sphagnum bog in Egmont National Park in the Taranaki Region of New Zealand. It was formed approximately 3,500 years ago and is of particular interest to botanists. Over 260 species of higher plant have been recorded there. The area of the swamp is approximately 1 km2.
The Pouakai Range is an eroded and heavily vegetated stratovolcano in the North Island of New Zealand, located northwest of Mount Taranaki. It consists of the remains of a collapsed Pleistocene stratovolcano. The range is surrounded by a ring plain of lahar deposits from a massive collapse that has been dated as roughly 250,000 years old.
The Kaitake Range, like the neighbouring Pouakai Range, is an eroded and heavily vegetated stratovolcano that formed during the Pleistocene epoch in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. Kaitake is the northwesternmost of the stratovolcanoes in the region. It is about 500,000 years old and last erupted around 350,000 years ago. Its final collapse about 250,000 years ago appears to have been potentially associated with a collapse event of the Pouakai volcano.
Roaring Billy Falls is a waterfall in Mount Aspiring National Park, Westland District, New Zealand. It is located in the Haast River valley, around 30 km (19 mi) inland from Haast, near Eighteen Mile Bluff on State Highway 6. The falls are a 30-metre-high (98 ft) cascade on The Roaring Billy stream. The bottom of the cascade is at an elevation of around 80 metres (262 ft) where it flows into the Haast River.
Entrance sign, Egmont NP, New Zealand
Low on the trail to the summit of Mount Taranaki
