Mount Pihanga and Lancewood Tree at Dusk, Tongariro, North Island, New Zealand
Mount Pihanga is a 1325m volcanic peak in the North Island Volcanic Plateau, located to the north of Mount Tongariro, between Tongariro and Lake Taupo. Lake Rotoaira lies to the south-west of Pihanga, and the smaller Lake Rotopounamu is situated on the south-western flank of the volcano, near Te Ponanga Saddle. Mt. Pihanga and Lake Rotopounamu are part of the 5,129ha Pihanga Scenic Reserve, which in 1975 was added to the Tongariro National Park. Tongariro was one of seven mountains that stood next to each other around Lake Taupo In the legend, all the mountains were male except for Pihanga. She was a stunning beauty, and the other mountains were deeply in love with her. One night, the mountains decided to fight for the right to win Pihanga. The warrior mountains fought fiercely with violent eruptions, smoke, fire and hot rocks that burned the sky for days. The land trembled and quaked under the force of their anger. When the fighting ceased, mighty Tongariro was the victor. Having won Pihanga’s devotion and the right to stand next to her, Tongariro became supreme leader of the land. The defeated warrior mountains were given the night to move away from the couple. At the dawn of the new day, they would be eternally fixed to the place where they rested. Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu moved off to a respectable distance, just to the south of Tongariro. Putauaki and Tauhara headed to the east. As dawn broke, Putauaki settled at the northern end of the Kaingaroa plain, near Rotorua, and remained there as a mountain sacred to people of the Ngāti Awa tribe. Tauhara, stricken with grief, could not bear to move far from Pihanga. He stayed on the shores of Lake Taupo, perpetually looking back across the lake to Pihanga. Taranaki, consumed by anger, gouged a great trail in the earth as he moved west to a place where he now stands overlooking the ocean below. The trail he left behind was filled with tears cried for Pihanga, and became the great Whanganui River.
Size: 4608px × 3456px
Location: Te Porere, Tongariro, North Island, new Zealand
Photo credit: © John Steele / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: afternoon, cloud, cone, crassifolius, dusk, forest, hill, horoeka, island, lancewood, landscape, leaf, legend, maori, mount, mountain, national, north, park, pihanga, pine, porere, pseudopanax, silhouette, te, tongariro, tree, volcano, winter, zealand
