Terraces One of Best Tourist Attractions That No Longer Exist

Ask a New Zealander what happened on 10 June 1886, and they’ll tell you the planet lost its “eighth wonder,” says CNN, who deem the Pink and White Terraces of Lake Rotomahana one of the “best tourist attractions that no longer exist.”

“They were the world’s largest silica towers and the South Pacific’s biggest 19th-century attraction until a massive eruption at Mount Tarawera that momentous day blasted these natural wonders into oblivion.

“Waimangu Geyser roared into existence hurling black mud and sand some 460m into the sky, making it the most powerful geyser the world has ever seen.

“This new attraction ignited a whirlwind of global interest in New Zealand’s volcanic North Island until [the geyser] too, vanished off the face of the earth in 1904 after a landslide changed the water table.

“The Pink and White Terraces and Waimangu Geyser may be lost forever, but their impression on tourists of the time is well documented.”

Original article by Mark Johanson, CNN, February 17, 2015.