What are the secret sanctuaries you feel embody the magic of New Zealand?
We all have our own special places around New Zealand. They may be beaches, mountain tops, forest glades, waterfalls, lakes, valleys or even cityscapes. They are the places we return to again and again and which we dream of when the pressures of the daily grind grow too heavy.
They are also the places we take family and friends from overseas when they come to see what this country is about.
I've got several including the view from North Head in Devonport, the clash of oceans at Cape Reinga, the taniwha at the entrance to Hokianga Harbour, the endless rows of waves rolling into Karekare or almost any West Coast Beach, the kokako tree - well, that's how I think of it - on Tiritiri Matangi, the giant kauri of Waipoua Forest, Chateau Tongariro with snowcapped Ruapehu behind and a secret glade where the bellbirds play at the end of Lake Rotoehu.
But I think my favourite is the wonderful Lake Tarawera Outlet. How many places can you see a river disappear into the ground and then reappear a few kilometres away spouting out the side of a cliff?
You get there through a private forestry road from Kawerau (access permits cost $2 from Filter Photography, Tarawera Court, Kawerau, phone (07) 323 7120).
The best plan is to drive straight to Lake Tarawera with its fat trout, majestic forest and the looming presence of Mt Tarawera. From the Department of Conservation camping ground on the shore walk down the bushy track alongside the lake outlet - where signs offer the sensible advice not to swim - and before long you'll notice its flow is mysteriously lessening.
Eventually the last of the water thunders into a dark cavern and the river is gone.
It reminds me of the lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Kubla Khan:
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
Ignoring any sinister voices, continue walking along the track and you'll reach a wasteland which looks as though it has still not recovered from the eruption of Tarawera in 1886.
Then there's a steep climb down into the Tarawera Valley and suddenly you'll see the river reborn as a waterfall cascading down a cliff-face.
Keep going and you'll find yourself strolling alongside the sparkling young Tarawera River.
If you've been lucky enough to organise someone to bring the car down to pick you up there's a conveniently placed car park. Otherwise you've got a stiff climb back up to the lake. But it's well worth the effort. Go and see it for yourself.
