Graaaagh

[WarBlade]

Hey , you left out Xena , warrior princess , Hercules and possibly that short lived Sinbad series was filmed there ! (Mmmm , Xena .... :P )

D'oh! :o

The funny part is I've had small involvment with both of those! :lol:

Sinbad? No, that wasn't here AFAIK. Pacific Renaissance did Herc, Xena, some kind of crummy young hercules spinoff, plus Cleopatra 2525.

Aren't one (or two ?) of the cities located nearly on top/ right next to a volcano ? Rotorua doesn't sound like the name of the one I saw recently on The Learning Channel special on New Zealand . Then again , maybe I should have paid better attention or at least taken notes :P !

Hmm, Auckland has some old volcanos poking up through it. Taupo sits at one side of Lake Taupo, which was formed in a volcanic blast that was recorded in ancient China when they could see a strange glow on the horizon. volcano map
The central North Island has a few old pressure valves in it and some of them still work from time to time. Ruapehu and Tongariro (not far from Taupo) both feature in scenes you'll see in Return of the King IIRC. Egmont becomes "Mt Fuji" for the duration of that upcoming Tom Cruise vehicle "The Last Samurai". Tarawera, just out of Rotorua was famous for it's destruction of a settlement and the Pink and White Terraces in 1886.

The last decent sized eruption was less than a decade ago and proved to be a big deal to locals (economy linked to ski seasons, preferably ash-free) and some vulcanologists from various corners of the world.