Motuoapa


Motuoapa is a rural settlement northeast of Tūrangi, on the southeast side of New Zealand's Lake Taupō. runs through it. Motuoapa Peninsula, a volcano, rises to the northwest, with a trig point at 497 metres, and Motuoapa Bay is directly to the north.
A youth hostel opened at Motuoapa in 1955 and a marina was built in 1961.

Demographics

Statistics New Zealand describes Motuoapa as a rural settlement, which covers. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. The settlement is part of the larger Lake Taupō Bays statistical area.
Motuoapa had a population of 492 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 132 people since the 2018 census, and an increase of 255 people since the 2013 census. There were 255 males and 237 females in 213 dwellings. 1.2% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 58.1 years. There were 60 people aged under 15 years, 48 aged 15 to 29, 213 aged 30 to 64, and 168 aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 82.9% European ; 26.2% Māori; 2.4% Pasifika; 2.4% Asian; 0.6% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders ; and 6.1% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.6%, Māori by 7.9%, and other languages by 3.7%. No language could be spoken by 0.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 18.9, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 29.9% Christian, 3.0% Māori religious beliefs, and 1.2% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 51.8%, and 13.4% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 81 people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 243 had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 105 people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $35,500, compared with $41,500 nationally. 33 people earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 189 full-time, 57 part-time, and 12 unemployed.

Geology

The highest point of Motuoapa Peninsula, at its north-eastern tip is a dacite volcano that has been dated as last erupting at 34,500 ± 3,100 years ago. The other volcanic formations, some of which the dacite cone is built upon, are older rhyolite with two different eruption ages of 81,300 and 77,200 years ago. At the time of the rhyolite eruptions, they were initially on the lake floor of the former Lake Huka which was replaced by Lake Taupō after the Oruanui eruption of the Taupō Volcano 25,400 years ago. Although the magma reservoir that fed these Motuoapa eruptions appears to be separate from the one that produced the more recent much larger Taupō eruptions, the type of eruption commencing under water but not staying underwater is felt possible in the future from the Taupō Volcano. A perhaps unexpected characteristic is the thickness of the pyroclastic deposits produced at Motuoapa, as these indicate that such rhyolite dome building which was assumed to be mostly effusive, can have explosive pyroclastic stages that would be very disruptive and dangerous.