Internationally regarded as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World', the Pink and White Terraces were two separate locations 1.5 kilometres apart on Lake Rotomahana. Te Tarata, (The Tattooed Rock) or the White Terrace was the larger. Covering seven acres, it tumbled to the lake from a from a height of 30 metres, fanning to a frontage of 240 metres. The terraces of Otukapuarangi, (Fountain of the Clouded Sky) or the Pink Terraces, were smaller and lower.

TRAVEL TO TERRACES:
Visitors travelled by steamer to Tauranga, taking a bridle track to Ohinemutu on the shores of Lake Rotorua. A coach trip to Te Wairoa, where tourists stayed at the Rotomahana Hotel.

From Te Wairoa, tourists boarded a whale boat, or smaller waka rowed by the local Maori to Te Ariki about 10 kilometres from Te Wairoa. At Te Ariki, the tourist group walked 3.5 kilometres over the isthmus to Lake Rotomahana, where they were paddled by waka to the terraces.

Many famous people to have visited the terraces were: Sir George Grey, Samuel Cook, Prince Alfred - Duke of Edinburgh, Anthony Trollope and Mark Twain. Soon the beautiful terraces were covered in graffiti. Hundreds of names, dates, addresses and poems, even the name of Sir George Grey, an early Governor of New Zealand, were scribbled on the silica which was covered by a transparent film and indelibly marked.