The world famous Pink and White Terraces were considered to be the eighth wonder of the natural world and were New Zealand's most famous tourist attraction. Unfortunately they were completely destroyed by a volcanic eruption on the 10th June 1886, at 3:00 am by Mt Tarawera, which violently erupted, belching out hot mud, red hot boulders and immense clouds of black ash. Several hours later, the bed of Lake Rotomahana blew out, burying the Maori villages of Moura and Te Ariki under a deep layer of liquid mud, stones and ash.
The Mount Tarawera eruption was New Zealand's most violent and destructive volcanic eruption in recent history. Mount Tarawera is 30 kilometres from Rotorua amidst the North Island's volcanic- thermal region. This eruption caused approximately 153 deaths.
The explosions were heard as far away as Auckland to the North and Christchurch to the South, and were thought to come from a ship in distress, whilst many in the Manawatu believed that the visiting Russian man-of-war, Vestnick was bombarding Wanganui. In Rotorua, no one was in any doubt as to what was happening.
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