The Buried Village of Te Wairoa

Multi-user Virtual Reality Museum Installation with Haptic Chairs

In the 1800’s adventurers from around the world would journey by boat, cart and canoe to a remote lake in Aotearoa New Zealand to experience the Eighth Wonder of the World, pools of silica named the Pink and White Terraces. That is until one fateful night in 1886 when neighbouring Mount Tarawera erupted, burying the terraces and the community that had formed around it. 

The Buried Village of Te Wairoa combines the very best in hardware, software and creative talent to immerse its audience in an unforgettable experience, one which transports the audience back in time to 1886, where they play intrepid explorers, traveling to a remote part of Aotearoa New Zealand to witness the eighth wonder of the world – The Pink and White terraces. 

The story passes audiences back and forth between real day and the site as it once was, following the trajectories of the heroes who saved lives on the fateful night, and those who were tragically lost, as well as giving viewers a first hand experience of the majesty of the terraces themselves, as explorers would have found them.