PWGT2: Ohaaki Geothermal Power Station Taupo District, North Island, New Zealand
By squirrel nutcase on 12-Jan-21. Waypoint GC95524

We hope you enjoyed exploring this region of the North Island. The Pokai Whenua GeoTour: Rua has now ended. Thank you to the community for all the great logs, photos, and Favorite Points over the last 2 years. It has been so fun!

Clever hiding spot!

With the Geotour coming to and end soon Yvettetb and I decided to go on a road trip to collect Tahi and Rua. Of course I had some puzzles at various places to collect and a few special types were added to the list too.

Today's plan was to get from Taupo to Rotorua collecting the tour caches and the Spot X puzzles in Rotorua. I'd been to this area before for a different cache on my way to the Turangi Mega many years ago. We'd seen the smoke stack from the road and had been keen for a closer look. We were very switched on and found the neat hide here quickly. Thanks for the cache and your participation in the Geotour

Our North Island Roadtrip from Whangarei to complete Tahi & Rua of the NZ Geotour - Day Eleven

Quick park and grab once we found the road. Thanks for bringing me here and TFGC.

This is a very interesting place. Glad we came here.

Wow, never knew this station was here, quite impressive. Great cache, thanks for bringing us here

A quick find while on holiday in the area. Have driven past this many a time over the years, but didn't realise you could access this little lookout area.
TFTC

Whoa that is amazing. Having never travels this road before I was amazed to see this in real life. It is much bigger than I imagined.
Thanks for bringing me here today and also thanks for the PWGT 2 cache. Such a lot of effort to keep up and running. Off too find the other two I need to collect today

#1002 saw this montruous work of engineering when approaching Taupo, and on the way back to Rotorua, discovered there was a cache there. How handy. A quiet new years day, with one local exercising their dogs these. The lookout looked a bit abandoned and lichen-filled which added the the industrial vibe. Very interesting site. Nga mihi. TFTC

On my home from Christmas.

The map said there is no access here, but there is a nice road and everything. So when i wrote up this log (on 8 January) I edited the map - added the road, moved the power station fence to where the power station fence is.

Took a while to find this - and not because I ignored the hide - I just didn't see it! Duh!

Saw this off on the distance and wondered what it was - checked and happy to see there was a cache her and we could learn about it. Thanks. Visiting from Texas

*Catching up on some long overdue logging*Recently it was my birthday, and GeoHubby (GNARwhal) single-handedly planned a weekend away (including childcare) up to Rotorua to collect the PWGT caches.Day 2 of cache hunting! Having left Rotorua, and nabbed the GC45 virtual on the way past, we detoured out into the Whirinaki Forest to log the 2 PWGT caches out there, then got back onto the main track to head home, via Palmerston North.Have driven past this power station on a few occasions before but never been this close, so thanks for bringing me here. The cache was a quick find thanks to great coordinates.

Found whilst on a Cross-country Geoventure with LL113!!

TFTC and greetings from Czechia

On a mission to do PWGT 2 caches in full and maybe some of Tahi ones too in the time I’ve allowed myself. There will also be some extras along the way to to make break the journey

Well that is a noisey location but a quick find in the rain. Did the usual photo stop and off back to civilisation to rest and recoup ss they say.

Up from Southland with muggly hubby to revisit some old haunts and discover new places. Taking a leisurely trip and the caching goal is to complete PWGT2.
This is Day 4 on the road. Staying at Motutere Bay and going a loop back to their today.
Hubby spotted the top of a towe through the trees a while back, so I did we could detour to find out what it was - no detour needed.
Google does not recognise this road to the overgrown lookout and took me up to SH5. Grr. Second misdirection this trip.
Found the clue, but where is the cache? Aha!
Codeword collected and goid to go once he's finished taking photos.
Thanks for the cache and the research squirrel nutcase
# 3456 16 November 2022 10:06 am

Today I am driving from Taupo to Rotorua, so this cx was right on the way. I didn't see any high tension power lines, so I wonder what they are doing with all the electricity they generate. TFTC.

Thanks for this cache, squirrel nutcase - as I wend my way south, searching for GeoTour caches. Rather a sad apology for a lookout, with the trees blocking the view !
Hoping the good spell of weather lasts for the next few days!

Last time we came past this way we parked on the road and looked up not realising that there was a lookout and cache not very far from us so this time we made a point of coming here. TFTC.

We stayed overnight at Lake Okaro and set off this morning with the intention of finding the last four caches we needed to complete the PWGT. The end is in sight! This was our third for the day as we are headed towards Taupo. As we were now driving the big rig we checked the satellite map and were pleased to see there was plenty of parking and turn-around room near GZ. We have seen this power station from a distance before but never got up close so this was a good opportunity. We quickly found the well-camoed-in-theme cache thanks to good coords and hint. All good here, codeword noted. TFTC squirrel nutcase, we would give this one a fave too if we had any to give.

Smells like eggs.
We made a trip north to visit family, target PWGT, and take home a trailer for a friend. Some caches aren’t so friendly for parking with a trailer, this one has plenty of space, and the four wagging tails got to stretch their legs too.
Nice cache hide.
Tftc

School Holidays so time for a tiki tour and some caching. Heading down to an event in Sanson, Winter Warmer IX. Never been to the spot although often noticed the large cooling tower from the main road. Enjoyed seeing it all up close. No problem finding the cache. Thanks.

Excellent type of creative cache container. Well done. Nice easy find in an area I've never been before. Thanks

Asdw

Didn't even know the road up here existed!! Great view and awesome cache
Thanks for placing the cache squirrel nutcase, for MinistryofEducation.
Find number 4604.
Log signed b&p.

AliGle and I were heading down to the Wairarapa for a 3 day hike and decided to work on the PWGT2 series on the way there and back again. Found this cache as we made our way back north again. Interesting to be so close to the cooling tower, soon spotted this nicely themed cache. TFTC, fav point added.

No problems here. Tftc

Wow!!thank you for this cache and story

Cool spot, we were looking at the cooling tower from the road and then the geotour cache took us close up! Thanks

Really neat to see this place close up.

As we approached and when we first saw the facility, we both though…”I thought Nz doesn’t have nuclear power”. Interesting the towers are similar.

Anyway, thanks for another geotour cache!

I liked the container!

Cool, i didn't know you could get so close to this monstrous structure! Awesome cache too! Tftc!

Stopped here on a return trip from Rotorua, saved it up for our Peak Climbs. Great viewpoint of a familiar structure, TFTC.

NZ MEGA 2020 (in 2022) road trip - Day 10

After spending a wonderful week in Auckland, with so many highlights, it was the final day of my break. Day 2 of the long trip home, having chosen to break it up over 2 days as i would end up driving about 900km in order to try to visit a whole host of caches that I've wanted to try to find for ages.

This was one of those caches, as I would like to be able to complete the PWGT1 and PWGT2 regions to gain the geocoins. I'm not likely to visit the South Island again soon, which is a shame as the whole set of coins looks fantastic!

This would end up being my last PWGT cache find on this trip, and it was a good one to end on. I have a PWGT cache of my own based around electricity generation, so I appreciated coming here today, and the quirky cache hide just finished it off nicely for me.

Thanks for bringing me here today. FP given.

#12,695. We enjoyed this park and grab in Ohaaki. GZ was all quiet at the time of our visit. Quick find. Good hide. The cache was in good condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

Favorite point added for the interesting write-up and hide.

Thanks for the placement, and for bringing us to this site, and …

.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.
.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.

#10,627. I am making my way back to Wellington today but good to pick this one up at last. My previous attempt I arrived after dark in winter on the road nearby and didn't even realise there was a side road you could drive right up to the cache. I wasn't prepared to scrub bash there and just and well. Today the place was deserted. So was able to park close by and wander to GZ. Nice cache container. Always fun finding something different and with a bit of creativity involved. Signed the logbook and replaced everything as found. Thanks squirrel nutcase for hiding it here.

Interesting to read the history of how power generation in this area has caused so much disruption of peoples lives as special features went under water and land has slumped after extraction of ground water. One day we (the human race) might finally learn that the best source of energy is from the sun (its expected to shine for a few billion more years and reliably rises and sets every day). We need to tap into that energy at the places we use it rather than transport energy from vast distances and destroy wild places trying to extract it.

Today we are going South. One of us was not really keen on driving to find yet another geocache for your geotour. But at GZ, things changed, we could get really close to the power station, we explored quite a lot around, looking at the pipes further down the road, and the power i station itself, we also discussed about how the investment was risky, as within just a few years, the heat reduced, as the station production. Thanks for taking us here and for the themed container.

Have been wanting to find this cache for while. On our way home, last find of the day watching the sunset.
TFT.

(# 7014) On a new years trip to see my brother in Tauranga. Grabbing a few caches while out and about. A quick find in a nicely created hide. Thanks for bringing me here.

I got to Taupo a lot earlier than I expected so I was able to come up here in daylight hours instead of early tomorrow morning before I head to Napier. Neat hide.

Found on a road trip around the central North Island, targeting Geotour caches. More when I get home. TFTC

29 December 2021 6:57 pm #4586

Once on the right road, I found the spot and what a great spot it is..
Tftc

Wow that is cool. Have seen this from a distance before but it’s rather large up close! On our way south for an adventure.

Chasing the PWGT cache series in this area over a long weekend with Itchyfeet2020.
Pleasantly surprised when we were able to drive up to this 'big beastie' and do an easy park and grab. Loved it. Another resident loves this prime real estate too - a large spider, not happy with intruders!
TFTC squirrel_nutcase - had no idea this technology existed in NZ.

Nice one squirrel nutcase. Great cache in a interesting spot true to its intent and surroundings. Enjoying your caches today on our PW tour so thank you.

Left a note for the next people! Good find

Wilbywarrior had already found this one when he did his "Inland" Tour in autumn. But thanks to Covid, we rerouted our "along the coast" Tour inland and I get to grab some caches he already got.

I like this one. And today it is clear enough to actually see the power station!

TFTC squirrel nutcase and MinistryofEducation for deciding to do the Geotour.

*** Out on our MEGA Roadtrip with Wilbywarrior. Who says this can only happen when the MEGA is actually held?! Greetings from Dunedin, caching friends
#335 ***

Back today on an unexpected trip as we we’re meant to at the MEGA. Stopped so malinkaly could find this one and I could finally see the cooling tower. It was so foggy back in May that I could only see the closer building!

I remember when this area was all trees and the cooling tower was essentially hidden from view.

Well the road trip continues with Flowerydaze on a mission to seek out PWGT2's. Missed the turn off and the GPS told us to climb a bramble filled bank to gain access to the cache, soon realised our mistake and retraced our steps. All well with this cache nice and dry, great cammo worth a FP. Thanks for bringing us here squirrel nutcase

I was a bit non-plussed at first when Talla64's GPS and my phone seemed to be saying climb up that bank of brambles, but then I realised we had missed a side road a short distance back. Oops. After that, it was more dismay to find there was a muggle mowing the grass. Never fear, he had finished the area where the cache was hidden and we were highly amused when we saw the container. I loved it - well worth a FP. Thanks for the interesting history squirrel nutcase and for the camoed cache.

Day 8 of our road trip to the not happening Mega. We’ve been here before to find another Trad. This is a much better hide. The “nuclear power station” is rather impressive to see in the middle of nowhere.
Now off to Butchers pool for our compulsory swim whenever we drive through this area.
TFTC

Cool container, cool spot. Forgot to get the password. Tftc

I didn’t know we had a cooling tower in NZ - reminds of the UK. Thanks for bringing us here.
The trip with LNM1961 (logs signed either with our own names or ‘LE’) continues. We are travelling around the Rua area of the PWGT to collect all of these caches, plus some in the Tahi area. However, we aren’t just focussing on them. We are targeting others - oldies, ones that help us qualify for challenges, ones out of the way (especially on the Desert Road), as well as having fun, exploring NZ and seeing the countryside. TFTC

Thanks for bringing me here, as I wouldn’t have stopped here otherwise. Nice container. Out and about with Ethness getting back of beyond and geotour caches.

1 August 2021 13:26. Persuaded the rest of the family to divert on the way back to Wellungton so I could find this one. Glad I had looked at the map beforehand as 'navigate to cache" ignored the side road and wanted me to head down the bramble infested slope!

Good one. Had to show the rest of the muggles in the car the container. Tftc

Feet got a little wet as it was a chilly start to the day. Great view of the cooling tower and clever hide.

Another of my target caches, albeit not actually on my route heading North, but contrived to be so. Yet another interesting write-up and a matching hide worthy of the story. I was wary of the white pipe dropping away into eternity and spotted the cache and added name as should be. All good here and replaced as found.

Left Taihape later than I'd hoped thanks to a certain thing taking Extra time and I paid the penalty with a reduced itinerary. Caching still happened though.

The weekend is here and for a change I've got a four-dayer planned with a trip across from Taupo to Napier to have a couple of nights in Havelock North and local area, followed by a trip back across the Napier-Taihape Road to stay at our daughters for a day before watching the football on Monday and then Coming Home, he's coming home, capperz is coming home (football didn't as it turned out! Well done to Italy.
A few nice caches found, not huge numbers so quality rather than quantity. A few more of the PWGT caches as well as some others here and there, thanks to all COs.

Nice hide and good view of power station lol

Very clever cache indeed. Great spot BTW. Thnks for the cache placement

Awesome find with Ash

Also found a personal belonging... let me know what you've lost & can be returned

After a weekend in Taupō we were on our home and our caching senses starting twitching. Google wanted us to traipse across the bush however after a little human investigation we just drove a little further up the road and were able to retrieve the cache. #2 find for the weekend and a fun way to break up a trip. Cache is clever hence a fave from us and its in great condition. TFTC

The last time we were here, they were still drilling boreholes to get steam to run the yet to be built power station. Quite a difference today. The cooling tower is quite impressive. TFTC.

Awesome little find! My mum found it

Found it great hiding place

Yay out on an adventure with my mumma today finding the local PWGT thank for a great find!

Isis58 and I are on a mission over the long weekend to find as many TMGT and PWGT caches as possible with the occasional normal cache thrown in as time allows. You can't miss the tower as you approach. Great container in fitting the theme. Thanks squirrel nutcase for the cache and geotour

#11219

Wow that makes a statement on the landscape. We missed the turn off due to the hopeless navigator so actually got great views of more of the station and pipes than if we had followed the proper road. Once near GZ we both wrongly assumed where we were heading. Nice hide when we got to the real GZ thanks squirrel nutcase. TFTC # 17,065

Tamangs found the switch

Up from Dunedin on a roadie from Auckland to Christchurch to get a good number of North Island PWGT caches and some others.
First stop after an overnighter in Rotorua and it’s so foggy I can only just see the closer buildings. Found the clever hide pretty quickly. Fav point from me. Tftc

Thanks to a previous logger for your hint we too meet a wall if blackberries and almost gave up. Found on a beautiful day tyftc

Often looked at the cooling tower as we passed and thought about a detour but never did. When I was growing up, the Trent Valley, just over the hills behind my house, was known as Megawatt Valley as there were four big coal-fired power stations within about 30 miles. The coal trains, which my dad worked on, came past the house. They used a system called the "merry-go-round" so the trains never stopped, even when loading and unloading. On a crisp day, the output from 20 cooling towers created an artificial bank of cloud. Thanks for the excuse to come here. Cool container. TFTC & FP.

We are on a whirlwind tour of the lower North Island in pursuit of the PWGT caches, we only stop for a few extras on the way but pretty much we are only focussing on the tour.

From a distance we could see where we were going and as we got closer and closer the size of this power station was most impressive and very unfamiliar to us as there is nothing like it where we come from.
We initially looked to access the cache from below but there was a wall of blackberry and there is no way that is the entrance to this cache and there is no way I would send GK through it, so we drove on a bit further and found a perfect way to access it. Gosh we were so close, it was fabulous.
We have both used switches like this in years gone by, so that was a little reminder of our childhood while we were here.
Thank you for showing us this fantastic power station and thank you for all of your effort and commitment that you have put towards this tour being such a success and of course thank you for the smiley. A favourite from us

Impressive smoke stack. I have been here before for another cache. Great hide and great camo. Tftc

Did with Crystal Fairy.

Having done a few others we decided to stop en route to pick this one up (No 4.). The power station is pretty impressive up close. The caching container is quite cool as well, but could have easily taken a bigger container than a film log to allow for tradeables. Picked up the word and headed on. Thanks for the cache.

This power station has a big chimney which is a tad different from most other chimneys in this country.

Very appropriate camoed cache container.

Cheers for the cache.

I enjoyed reading this very interesting story. I was also pleased to be able to get very close to this power station and great parking. We approached from Broadland Road which we travel on frequently. The cache was well crafted a themed accordingly. A fav from me. Thanks for bringing us here Squirrel Nutcase

Great camo ...those old switches dont comply any more. But it will last a life time ..old but stronge..a nicely themed cache..I enjoyed the information about the geothermal generation and updated my knowledge bank..thanks Squirrel for the great history & great all round cache... your input ..is appreciated the cache is in good condition

Such an interesting place to visit. Have always looked at this chimney from a distance for years. Great write up on cache page. Nice quick find and neat smilie.

Love cooling towers. Lots at home in the UK have been knocked down which is a shame.

He ahua hoihoi, he kaha haunga hoki! No reira, he tino tere te kimi! Kia ora.
It was quite noisy and very smelly as well. Therefore the find was fast.

A nice quick find thanks. We really needed to get on the right level.

Ms_KR and I flew up to Hamilton to catch up on family and a few caches, especially those in the new PWGT geotour. We are looking at completing those in the Central north Island this holiday, and this is day 1 of those.

Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

i was with cache owner when he placed this cache.
so passing thought i had better log this one with his permission.
good placement
tftc

Cool view. Tftc!

After a week's holiday in Taupo, we are taking a roundabout route to Rotorua today so that we can find as many of the PW GeoTour caches as we can. Our first stop was to the Ohaaki Geothermal Power Station. Our GPS took us straight past the access road and wanted us to take the prickly cross country route. Common sense prevailed, and after we retraced our steps the route in was obvious. After that we quickly spied the cache camo - nicely done - and made sure to take a note of the codeword. TFTC. Favourite point added.

Found by Blenheim Bear Thanks for the cache all good today. Blenheim Bear

Only the lawn mowing man on deck today, neat cache
, neat area, TFTC.

We have not been here before
Cool cache

Mr rattll was on his way to Edgecumbe, so is taking the opportunity to knock off some more of the new geo tour caches.
No muggles around to hinder the search so the very clever cache was quickly found.
Thanks for putting this here for us to find and for contributing to the new geo tour

Wow this tower is huge. Quick find here by TaybeeNZ. Cheers.

Sunday 21 Feb. Taupo - Rotorua - Taupo afround the mountain and back to Wellington. Another long haul today but visited some awesome places.

Taybee NZ decided to go after PWGTs so hooked me in to help. We are on a mad dash around the lower North Island this weekend in his new Geomobile. Lots and lots of driving with 14 hour tiring days. Stayed in Taupo for the night for and early start heading towards Rotorua. Snagged all we went after but run out of time to complete the set. So will be back soon.

Scary steam stack. Love the hide, fun find. Thanks

With rebel98 on a weekend of PWGT fun

For a long time I have wanted to make a detour to come and have a closer look at the chimney, but for various reasons it never eventuated. But thanks to this hide, today is the day I am here for a closer look. Not obvious the entrance, and was not sure if we should be here initially, but then spotted the viewing area, and knew we were in the right place.

Did a bit of a phone dance, avoiding the prickles, and then I spied the likely cache, and it was. Loved the camo on this one, very appropriate, we were really switched on today with our finds

Another fun find in the PWGT geotour, thanks again for your hides squirrel nutcase and the history. This one was so cool, the cache and the location (love the engineering).

But the history is a sad one, I knew that Orakei Korako had geysers and thermal areas flooded by the creation of the power scheme along the Waikato river. The cost to the local tribes would have been immense. It got me thinking would that happen today? do we have safeguards in place? some call it progress? but at what cost.

Cool creative cache. TFTC

We were very pleased to be brought here today, there is nothing on the main road to suggest this viewing area is here and even when you drive along the road it isn't immediately obvious that it continues to the left of the gate so had it not been for this cache we would have been none the wiser.
There was a car parked about 150 metres from GZ so we thought it may belong to another cacher but it turned out to be a muggle just sitting in her car enjoying a peaceful time-out.
After admiring the cooling tower and taking a few photos we turned our attention to the cache which we soon spotted despite the very clever camo. Nicely done.
Thanks squirrel nutcase for bringing us here and for the interesting information. We have really enjoyed finding your caches today and would have given you a favourite point but we are currently all out, however we have made a note to award one when we have accumulated more.
Our 21st overall stop on the Pokai Whenua Geotour, and our 2nd on PWGT2.

Another interesting spot to visit. Quickly located yet another neat hide! it's getting dark so I didn't hang around too long. TFTC, #2427

Heading home form Te Puke to Hastings, many a time I drive past this not thinking much about it as it been here forever. I remember when you couldn't see it from the main road, cause of the pine forest now that's all gone, you can see it is awake. Thanks for bringing me to this spot. Cheers Picked up TB

**12,844**
PWGT #55 (for us)
We have often looked over at this geothermal station when driving home and laughed or commented on it, "Homer, Homer" or "Springfield" so to finally get the chance to get up close and personal with it was quite a treat. Text messages were sent to friends and family members with photos of the plant, asking them to guess where we were - so much fun, with the varied responses (we are easily amused, as you can see). We were expecting another clever cache hide but were still really impressed when we uncovered the cache container. A real credit the the cache owner for his cleverly well themed cache hide. It has been a real pleasure finding your caches. Thank you for your efforts with these cache placements, well worth a favourite point (we would give you two points, if it was at all possible). TFTC

Last find on the way home. We've always gazed at this tower on the way past but this is the closest that we've gotten to it. Thanks for bringing us closer. Interesting to read the history of the area as well.

My first day of 4 to collect all the PWGT series south of Auckland down to Lake Wairarapa. Today, I’m with FMZ in his 4WD and we’re have a helluva plan to get all of the caches in these 4 days.
I have passed by this way maybe a few times but somehow not remembered this tower being here. Now I have to find a cache nearby, I can’t not see it! I was glad we could drive right up to the cache and a good effort on it by the C.O. Very well themed as such. Interesting info about the power station, how certain places dried up and sunk as a result of steam being drained from the earth, thanks Mr squirrel for that research.

Day two of a five day North Island Pokai Whenua GeoTour expedition collecting all the geotour caches for PWGT Tahi and PWGT Rua. 3550km travelled over 5 days, 70 geotour caches found. Today we travelled from Auckland to Turangi via the Bay of Plenty. Our group today consisted of Gorby, boneybruce and myself.

Weren't sure we could drive right to GZ, but after finding the road wasn't very close, we drove in and yep, parked right by GZ for a quick find at sunset. TFTC!!!

We had a very different weekend planned but hubby at a couple of nights earlier said why not go after some of these geotour caches and make the most of the long weekend and good weather - so managed a few under the belt and thank you for the all the effort gone into placing these caches. - another easy fav point