Lake Tarawera

Lake Tarawera is the largest of a series of lakes which surround the volcano Mount Tarawera in the North Island of New Zealand. Like the mountain, it lies within the Ōkataina Caldera. It is located to the east of Rotorua, and beneath the peaks of the Tarawera massif i.e. Wahanga, Ruawahia, Tarawera and Koa. Tarawera means "Burnt Spear", named by a visiting hunter who left his bird spears in a hut and on returning the following season found both the spears and hut had been burned down completely. Geography Lake Tarawera is above sea level, and has a surface area of . To the north-west is Lake Ōkataina, to the west as you go south, lakes Ōkāreka, Tikitapu and Rotokākahi and to the south-east Lake Rotomahana. Lake Tarawera township is on the western shore, between Lake Tarawera and Lake Ōkāreka. The main road access is from Rotorua to the west. The lake was substantially affected by the eruption of Mount Tarawera on 10 June 1886 to the lake's east. There were changes in lake level and sediment carriage. The lake has a large catchment. This includes Lake Tarawera's immediate catchment, being in area, and the catchment of the nearby higher lakes, being a total of , with an estimated mean annual precipitation of .