34th International Geological Congress (IGC): AUSTRALIA 2012

New Zealand Field Trips
NZ-1 North Island: Active Volcanism, Neotectonics, Geothermal
Activity
Post Trip: 6 days 5 nights - Saturday 11 August to Thursday 16 August 2012
Starts: Wellington, New Zealand
Finishes: Auckland, New Zealand
Numbers limited to 20
Cost: Land: AUD $2030 per person share twin/double
Single supplement AUD $460
Air: From AUD $330 one way Brisbane to Wellington.
Trip description: Examine the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ) of the central North Island. Visit White
Island, New Zealand’s most active volcano. Other highlights will be the Newmont
Martha epithermal gold mine in Waihi, the Wairakei Geothermal Field near
Taupo, Lake Taupo occupying the Taupo Caldera, New Zealand’s ‘super volcano’;
geothermal hotsprings at Waimungu and Wai-O-Tapu near Rotorua; Ruapehu,
Ngauruhoe and Tongariro volcanoes; tectonic deformation and basement geology
and geological history of New Zealand
Highlights: Whakatane, White Island, Taupo, Wellington, Te Papa (National Museum), GNS
Science
Trip Leader/s: Dr Hamish Campbell, Dr Tony Christie and Professor Alex Malahoff, Geological
and Nuclear Sciences, NZ
Special notes: Delegates are required to book own air travel to arrive in Wellington on evening of
11 August. Trip finishes late afternoon on 16 August. Surcharge for optional White
Island flight is approximately AUD 320. Optional helicopter surcharge AUD 530.
This field trip is not suitable for children.
Airfares are not included in the tour price.
Day by day itinerary Day 1 - Saturday 11th August 2012 - Wellington
Delegates fly to Wellington and make own way to centrally located hotel. Spend
some time settling into your hotel before departing on a tour of GNS Science at
Avalon, Lower Hutt, around 20 kilometres away.
This evening enjoy a function and dinner hosted by GNS Science.
Overnight: Novotel Hotel, Wellington (or similar)
Meals: D
Day 2 - Sunday 12th August 2012 - Wellington to Wairakei
After breakfast, drive from Wellington to Taupo via State Highway, around 4.5
hours. Along the way you will see basement greywacke rocks (Torlesse Terrane) of
Gondwanaland origin near Wellington; tectonically tilted Pleistocene and Pliocene
sediments up the Rangitikei River valley; enter the central North Island rift (Taupo
Volcanic Zone) from the south; traverse the ‘volcanic plateau’, passing three of
New Zealand’s active volcanoes: Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mt
Tongariro; travel up the eastern side of Lake Taupo (the caldera of an active supervolcano);
visit Taupo and visit the Huka Falls (Waikato River). Visit the GNS Science
office at Wairakei a short distance north of Taupo.
On arrival at hotel you will have some time to settle in before dinner.
Overnight: Wairakei Resort Hotel, Wairakei (or similar)
Meals: B / L / D
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