Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo is so large — 616 square kilometres — that it takes the eye a moment to register it as a lake rather than a sea. On calm days the southern shore reveals the snow-capped cones of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro reflected in the water, a view that is one of New Zealand's most iconic.

The lakefront in town is well set up for visitors: a promenade runs along the shore, and a shallow bay provides sheltered swimming. Boat trips leave from the marina for Mine Bay, where massive Māori rock carvings — carved in the 1970s by master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell — are visible on the cliffs above the waterline and can only be approached from the water. Sailing, kayaking, and waterskiing are all available from the town beach.

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Lake Taupo fills the caldera of a supervolcano whose most recent major eruption — around 186 CE — was the most violent volcanic event on earth in the last 5,000 years. The eruption ejected so much ash and debris that a blood-red sky was recorded by observers in China and Rome who had no idea what had caused it.

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