The Aratiatia Dam is known for its spectacular onrush of
water, released three plus times every day.
The thousands of litres of water rush down a narrow gorge, creating
amazing rapids as the water drops 28 metres within a kilometre.
The water can be released at any time, as well as at the designated
times, and so swimming in the pools below the spillway is totally
forbidden. The pools are deceptively
beautiful, and sometimes foolish people have ignored all the signs and
consequently lost their lives.
The Dam is part of the first hydro-electric power station on
the Waikato River after it leaves Lake Taupo.
We were present for the 10am spillway release and watched in awe as the
water level rose and began to tumble down the gorge.
The water was released for 15 minutes and there were people
watching from all three of the lookout points.
The water was infused with oxygen bubbles from all the turmoil, and
these helped create the gorgeous blue and aqua colours to be seen in the
waters.
There were several fantails feasting on insects that the
water flow disturbed, but I failed to get a good photo of them.
The Rapids (as well as Marlborough’s Pelorus River) were
used to film a scene in the movie The
Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, where dwarfs were rescued by hiding them
in barrels which then careened downstream.
The scenes were shot using the barrels and no actors or stuntmen were required to brave the dangerous waters.
When the spillway gates closed again the water level dropped
rapidly. It was an amazing display of
the power of water and I would gladly go and watch this spectacle again, although
probably from a different lookout.
Enjoy your day J
Margaret.
LINKED TO My Corner of the World
It is spectacular isn't it.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see the water rushing out like you describe. The pools look so inviting. I can see that some would be tempted in spite of warnings.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous sense of all that water rushing by! Great photos.
ReplyDeleteI am excited to see your corner at 'My Corner of the World' this week! Thanks for linking up.
What a spectacular sight! There is also good fishing there too - my son loves fishing there
ReplyDeleteStay safe
Blessings
Maxine
Are there any truly wild rivers left in the world? We have dammed, channelled and modified them all it seems. The chickens may soon come home to roost as these aging structures become more and more susceptible to breaching with the increasing severity of storms, it already happened in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteIt seems man loves to control things (but I still enjoy living with electricity!). We are lucky here in that there are several major rivers that are still flowing wild, especially in the South Island - probably because some of them are so wild that they are impossible to tame!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThe power of water is amazing, dangerous but beautiful. Wonderful series of photos. Have a great day!
That would be amazing and a bit scary to think about if you got caught in it. You would never find me tempting fate.
ReplyDeleteHow marvellous to see the water flowing through the dam. I can see too how tempting it would be to dive into one of those pools, but I can imagine the power of that water
ReplyDeleteIt must be interesting to see and hear the spectacle. Thank you for sharing Margaret. I’d love to see it too.
ReplyDeleteLook how blue and clean the water is! So beautiful! It sure is relaxing to be a bit near that Dam. Although I think I'll be a bit too scared to be much closer because I don't know why, I have this little scare whenever I get near a waterfall or something which I can't describe. I think it's the sound. Thanks for taking us here Margaret!
ReplyDeletePS my personal blog is back again :) Thank you so much for being with me on the waits :)
What an amazing view of the white water being released. I bet it was noisy! You had a wonderful trip.
ReplyDeleteThat sure is a gorgeous blue color!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely weekend you've had! Thank you for sharing the photos of the places you visited. I've never been to New Zealand, but, your photos are allowing me to catch a glimpse of it, anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteImpressive and the pools look tempting, but not tempting enough to ignore such warnings...
ReplyDeleteOhhh, you had a rainbow :-)
Beautiful colors, I´d like to see (and hear) that life one time!
Thank you for sharing the beauty, brightens this grey day, I xx