Orakei Korako

[1] The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place of adornment near the white [sinter flat]" for Ōrākei Kōrako.

By the early 19th century the Māori population had congregated at Orakei Korako, probably attracted by the hot springs, which they used for cooking and bathing.

Around 1819, the local Māori hid in an alum cave on the site from a passing raiding party of Ngāpuhi and Ngati Paoa.

[4] The date when the Ngāti Tahu vacated the valley to settle at other locations is not recorded, but it has been suggested that they left after the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886, when great changes are alleged to have occurred in the hot springs.

The earliest known route from Rotorua to Taupō for early European travellers passed right through Orakei Korako, and it was the existing Māori who provided a dugout canoe for the river crossings.

[5][6] In peak wet conditions up to 20 million litres of silica-enriched water per day may flow over the terrace and into Lake Ohakuri.

This raised the Waikato River level by 18 metres at Orakei Korako, flooding approximately 200 alkaline hot springs and 70 geysers (or two-thirds of the active thermal area).

The most famous of these is the Diamond Geyser, whose unpredictable eruptions can last from a few minutes to many hours, ejecting boiling water as high as nine metres.