Paradise Found (Waikato) Orakei Korako, North Island, New Zealand
By slackie on 06-May-04. Waypoint GCJCN1

Found it

Monday - 24/01/2022 #3,882

On a week long trip up and down the middle part of the North Island. Same weekend as the Mega event in Auckland (but that's not where I ended up). Targeting a few specific caches, and a few others. This is one of them.

Wow, what an amazing spot. Can't believe it's been two years since a log. As I'd been river kayaking in Tauranga earlier in the day I had kept my wetsuit on for the drive here, and launched from the close by parking area for a short paddle. I could feel the heat of the water through the bottom of the kayak. Enjoyed a soak at the nearby area of slightly cooler warm water after my kayaking was done. What a day! TFTC.

*Found with [Geooh GO](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobiltal.geoohGO)*

I made it, such an great adventure, just paddling alone in my inflatable boat in the middle of nowhere. It was a very nice challenge with lots of interesting things to see around. The day before I went to Orakei Korako, did the Earth Geocache there, after that I would have to do this one + the Squeeze cache one. The coordinates given by Gorbygorbachov, as used. Thanks for that.
TFTC

Woops a little behind in the logging

With rustynz and gorby. Was getting a hot bum, was not sure if the kayak would melt with the heat

Certainly a party place (the launch spot).

Fun find, perfect day on the water

With rebel98 and gorby on a caching adventure, this time with kayaks. We arrived at the launch spot which was all quiet, so we positioned the car and trailer for an easy get away on our return.

The kayaks at the waters edge we were soon on our way to GZ.

Now I could see the steam rising off the water, and proceeded to paddle in for a closer look. That is when I noticed the sit on kayak was getting rather warm

The hot water was coming in thru the holes in the kayak and could feel some burning happening. So with a a quick back paddle, I was soon in cooler waters.

Would love to have stopped for a swim, in the cooler/warm zone, but we are on our way to the Squeeze, which is just around the corner.

Thanks for the virtual hide slackie, and for bringing us to this amazing place. Answers to be sent.

rustynz and Rebel98 and myself are on another 3 day mission, this time it's been decided it's going to be mainly a kayaking weekend.

We pulled up at a spot that one of us seen on Google Earth **S38 27.159 E176 09.366**. This is **THE** best spot to get to this virtual. Literally 220m from shore. We pulled the 3 kayaks from the trailer and got ourselves ready. As rusty has said, our bums got quite warm and when I put my hand in the water at GZ, I was quite alarmed hot it was! So I didn't hang about, didn't want to see my kayak have a melt down and me following suit!

We guessed the answer the C.O wanted and when we kayaked over to the Squeeze, it was confirmed anyway. What an amazing spot here, you could swim here but just not a GZ!

Log later

Went for a little afternoon kayak.too manybogans and load stereo s at location will return

Found with Tnxpro McJandals and NZflossy . A plan was hatched to get the caches on this lake. The others picked me up on their way through Rotorua lake was beautiful and still on way to this location started to get a little choppy once past here. I was a little slower than the others no chance of me breaking the speed limit.
Tftc

A plan was hatched to tackle this beautiful area by kayak.
I joined NZF, DC, and McJ and drove into the nearest launch point, unknowingly that the locals call "The Pipe".
There was a young group of boaties setting up their picnic spot when we turned up.
I kinda felt like apologising to them for disturbing their picnic as we made a load of noise unloading the kayaks and blowing up the inflatable kayak. At this point I had no idea how popular the area would become until our return.
The required answer to comply with the cache was discussed well before we arrived at GZ and it wasn't until we had been on the water for a while before we saw the signs.
Thanks for bringing me to this wonderful place.
TFTC

Found using Cachly app and logged using the text template, so please excuse generic logging in advance. On a roadie with NZFlossy, Richard,TNXPRO and Davidson Clan from the Bay of Plenty, a plan was hatched and here we are. Great to have these places to visit and many thanks to all you COs for the placements. Cheers email sent.

A great day down in this area kayaking and caching with other cachers - Mcjandals, Tnxpro and Davidsonclan This is a beautiful and magical spot and it is amazing how warm the water is. There were a lot of boats in the area making the most of the public holiday. I have emailed the answer to the CO Thanks again for a neat day and lots of fun memories TFTV

I've been looking forward to getting on the water for these caches and today is the day. I've dragged my son along because I could use the extra horse power and it's better than having him play fortnite all day

I found all the thermal activity in the area really interesting especially as we got the GPS down to zero meters. Nice and toasty around here - what a great place for a virtual. Cheers slackie, TFTC

Out for a night time paddle. Launched just after 9pm and got back to my car at about 3.30am after finding 3 caches. Nice to tick this multi off and I appreciated the change in temp.

Chilly start to the day with frost on the grass and steam on the water. Awesome spot . Kayaking together with 11hpg11, kiwi69, Cats&Dragons, evil09, Alpenmilch 80, HKCB and iammrwalker . T4TC

I found this cache while out with a group of other adventurous, motivated, intelligent, funny and crazy Geocachers from Hamilton and Auckland. The main goal for the day was to find and experience “The squeeze” (GC7GCKD), however we also did a few detours for a number of other caches along the way. Our group consisted of Cats&Dragons, HKCB, Kiwis69, 11hpg11, Alpenmilch80, Evilno9, and Greenblat, and we signed most logs “Team squeeze”. Trips like this don’t happen without a lot of organization so thanks particularly to C&D Kiwi69 and HKCB for their help in ensuring the trip could go ahead.

A few of the team had found this virtual cache on a previous visit to the area but for Greenblat, Evilno9 and I it was our first visit so we made sure to get the required photo and speed limit before heading out onto the Waikato river. Great spot. It was so hot here today I could feel the heat through the bottom of the Kayak. Thanks to 11hpg11 for taking the photo, I'm the one on the right.

Meeting up today for another epic trip including 11hpg11, kiwi69, Cats&Dragons, evil09, GreenBLAT, HKCB and iammrwalker. We launch the kayaks close by and made the few meters over to take the photo with evilno9 (see his post) and me. It was early with just around 1C and the area was nicely steaming. Now bring on "The Squeeze" TFTC

Down here with Team Squeeze to head around the corner and grab the cache there, but first there was time to come through this way and do the needful on this Virtual which turned out to be an unexpected bonus.

Thankful to the Hamilton crew we came down with for the gear and guidance, which meant the day on the water was enjoyable and even warm in parts. Awesome little start to our water adventure - answers sent to CO - TFTC

found on a mad dash while up to do some repairs on my bach and bought my water crossing cache mobile (boat) up for this and a couple of other caches was a great experience and im happy I took time out to claim the smiley TFTVC

Came down from Auckland to do the Earthcache at Orakei Korako, the traditional called The Squeeze and this great virtual. We could feel the hull of our kayak warming up as we approached ground zero. Great place, great cache. Thanks slackie.

We came here largely to find the new cache nearby, and then realised we were very close to this virtual, which are always good to pick up when you can.
The water is lovely and warm around here. So glad it wasn't too hot a day today.
Thanks for setting this up slackie

A challenge of mine for a while now has been to find 10 cache types in one day, and this has been a bit of a waiting game as the only webcam cache I hadn't found has been disable due to technical difficulties for a while, but I'll get to that when I log that cache. So with the plan having been in the works for a while all that was needed was a date, and being CITO weekend we thought it was the perfect time to give it a crack.

As Kiwis69 had mentioned the quantity of caches near home for me is minimal so this was going to be a pretty big day with some massive km's being traveled. First leg of the trip was up to Auckland, which meant a 3.30am start to get back to Hamilton in time for the CITO. Leg two was a trip to Tauranga for the webcams and leg three was through Rotorua then to Orakei for the Virtual cache, then back to Hamilton for a 6pm event to round out the 10 types. All up about 750kms of driving!!

So along with Kiwis69 and 11HPG11 we set off on our EPIC day of caching.

Wow what an amazing place, truly worthy of a virtual cache. I have been wanting to visit here for a while but have been wanting to leave this cache for a special trip, and since we are attempting 10 cache types in one day it felt like the best time to do this. Plus it was my only virtual in the North Island I hadn't found.
Once at GZ, we spent some time in awe of this place, before getting the info we needed and heading back to the the car. 11HPG11 has sent answers to the CO on my behalf, thanks for showing my this place!

A mission that has been a long time in the making. Today our goal was to collect 10 different cache types in a day. For Kiwis69 and myself this would have been fairly easy and a short day, but because we were tagging along with HKCB, this meant a few more kms and a wider caching area. We started the day at 3.30am and due to deciding to continue back to another event in Rotorua I got to bed at 5.30am the following day. Sleep is for the weak right?! A memorable day, spent in some great company and superb weather just to make the day even better. All up we did Hamilton - Auckland - Hamilton - Tauranga - Rotorua - Taupo - Hamilton - Rotorua - Hamilton. Travelling all those kms and still ended up in Hamilton

Second leg of the journey now, time to head to the Bay. Kayaks loaded, coffee fix had and now the sun was up it felt a lot more normal to be out and about.

This was our virtual of the day, and a very enjoyable cache! This was a highlight of the day, a very cool spot that we had a blast exploring. Loved the hot water, wish we had more time to spend relaxing here. Will be stopping here again! Worthy of a fav point.

Answer emailed, photos to attach.

Joined forces with HKCB & 11hpg11 to find 10 different cache types today. Because HKCB has already cleared out every cache vaguely near home, it soon became clear that, for the three of us to fulfil this challenge together, would necessitate quite a bit of travel (~ 700km!) and a spot of kayaking ... gulp... and hence the plan saw us leave Hamilton at 3.30 am to head to Auckland, back to Hamilton by 8am for a CITO & to collect kayaks before heading to Tauranga, Rotorua & Lake Ohakuri, with the aim of being back in Hamilton by 6pm for our 10th cache type. Totally ridiculous but a whole lot of fun!

We were lucky to have beautiful sunny weather and not much wind either for our visit here .. in fact, can't think of a better way to get away from all the noise about the election today (yes, voted early to be here instead!) The water was surprisingly hot today so, although we'd talked about going for a swim, we weren't sure about the wisdom of this & were very content with enjoying just floating through the steam. Back to the landing with a great sense of achievement for finally collecting this cache & def a fav bringing us to this fab location. Pic attached, TFTC

Staying in Taupo so decided to have a bit of a drive around the countryside to the north.I had just bought a kayak yesterday so that I could do this cache. It will also be handy to do a few others as well. This is the last virtual to be done now on for the Challenge cache.

Cheers for the cache.

At World’s End – New Zealand – One of our dream become true.

Our plan was to stay 4 weeks in New Zealand. But this wasn’t this easy to manage at work. So we moved spontanic the plan from march to november. We informed us before about point of interessts. The list was this long so we decided to go by campervan from the north to the south to have the most mobility. We arrived after way to much hours in Auckland and started there our round trip. At first we enjoyed the area in auckland and the north. In Waitomo we were able to see and enjoy glohworms in one of the famous caves. But this area had a lot of nice hiking trails were we could discovered the Piripiri Caves, Natural Bridge and the Marokopa Falls. This was already impressive to see and still the beginning of our adventure for life. The trip went on over Okere Falls Scenic Reserve direction Rotorua. In this area we enjoyed each hour, because each corner was different. We visited the Haumurana Springs – what amazing water -, Blue Lake and Green Lake and relaxed in Kerosene Creek. We liked all the water and in our travel guide we found a hike cloth to the Huka Falls, which ofcourse we did as well. All this flowers were bloom. One oft the Highlights was Wai-O-Tapu. The weather was perfect and all this colors awesome and the geysir a nice shower. By Campercan the to tour went on direction Tongariro Alpine with a short stop at Orakei Korako and the Tongariro River Loop Track. Lu like nice hiking tours and what could be the best for her birthday? Of course the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We started early in the morning and walked approximately 9 hours over gras, stones, snow and colorful water. Now we had to leave the Heart of North New Zealand and went over Taranaki Falls to the East Coast with the goal Napier. The weather was cloudy and often raining but a small sightseeing was a must have. The last stop on the North Irland was Wellington. But it was only raining and some streets were already flooded. That’s why we change spontanic our plan and only did the First Cache of New Zealand and went by ship over the Marlboro Sound to Picton. We went over Farewell Spit to the lonely Wharariki Beach with sea lions. On the way back to the big streets we stopped at Waikoropupu Spring and Janie Sesson Shipwreck and drove untypical to Karamea. In Germany we do not have this much and public caves and that’s way we enjoyed this area! Cloth to the West Coast we took a look at the Pancake Rocks. The weather was just raining and so we could not see the Franz Josef and Fox Glacier, but we still visited them. We leaved the bad weather in the hills and enjoyed the Sun at Ship Creek, Thunder Creek, Fantail Falls and the Blue Pools. Wow they were relly blue and this clean and deep. I never saw something similar before. About Wanaka we read a lot in our travel guide and looked forward to it. There arrived we visited the Puzzling World and walked around the sea. Queenstown the next town we drove just through because at this time there was a marathon and it was really campervan unfriendly. So we used the time and drove to Milford Sound and enjoyed the hills surround us on the water. I never felt this small. After we are landed again on land the trip goes on to the Chasm and Clifden Caves and the Clifden Suspension Bridge. Wow what an adventure. At the end we visited a few cities like Bluff, Duneding, Moeraki Boulders and Christchurch were our Trip sadly ends.

At all this places we looked for nice and unique caches which shows us places which we never would had seen without. We enjoyed the nature and wildlife each day and it was really an adventure for life. At the end we drove approximately 5000 kilometeres and felt this relaxed.
Thanks to all owners for placing this caches and this much informations which we got about the particular areas. This was an adventure for life for us. Thanks for this beauty time.

Greetings from Germany – Luco235

Love this place. We come a lot for a relaxing warm soak

It was another day in Paradise. They say Paradise is in the backseat of my cadillac. You can also run to Paradise, but not this far, especially with a kayak. We went down a track to a sort of picnic spot and swimming holes and launched. We paddled as close to the hot water as we dared. We didn't stay long, the steam was hot enough let alone the water. We spent some time paddling around and didn't see or hear another person. Paradise is exhausting, that we do know. TFTV slackie.

Cool place!

Had a day as acting as driver for my father who was competing in the Taupo 100k Flyer (Taupo to Rotorua) so while he was doing this I thought a good use of my time would be to collect caches in areas that I don't normally have the time to stop.

This was the first and a very nice spot, managed to disturb a family making use of the warm water
thanks for bringing me here today

Thanks for the placement

Fantastic spot although way to hot to swim in mid summer! Tftc

Gap (of Fap and Gap) and I are in a bind... We are looking for different cache types to fill a space in a challenge, and our local options are running low. This is our best chance to complete the task... but getting to ground zone won't be easy...

We arrived late morning, and the outside temperature was already around mid-twenty. That had nothing on the water temperature which was considerably warmer. The lake level appeared to be lower than usual with a bit more of the shoreline exposed. The trip across to the sign was uneventful except for the heat. There were no other water users here, but a motorboat was heard approaching slowly in the distance. Our answer for the all important question was collected (sent to the CO) then we returned to our starting point to explore...

The Te Ara Ahi Bike Trail cuts through and ends here. The surrounding area looks like it will be developed some more. There were a couple of tents set up, but we seemed to have the location to ourselves. Gap waded out in knee-deep water but had to climb onto a rock after a while or risk getting burnt legs. Sadly, the water was just a bit too hot to enjoy today. What a great location... Perhaps worth visiting in mid-winter. TFTVC.

11.25am - With Squirrel we needed this for our licence challenge, so had extended lunch break and off we went to explore and collect this virtual. Sent CO answer and photo is same as Squirrel Nutcase, if need be will download photo if required.

The group and I were out on Lake Ohakuri today having a paddle. I asked the teacher if I could head around and collect the answer for this one and permission was given. Answer collected and sent to CO. A really nice area, too bad I couldn't get out and enjoy it here. We were given the opportunity later to enjoy the water when we visited "The Squeeze". TFTV slackie!

A cache I have been meaning to visit for may years now, finally got there today. Lovely calm conditions made for a very pleasant kayak trip, and no fear of breaking the 'mysterious' speed limit at my rather sedate rate of paddling
Awesome spot, and totally muggle free here today. Really enjoyed the visit.

TFTVC

Please see attached photo, but no GPS sorry.
Hot water was hot, but weird that it does not mix readily with the cooler water.
Nice to soak in either way.

The day started with a visit to Weimangu vulcanic valley, which was very impressive. We moved on to the Huka Falls and the 'Craters of the moon' park, where we spent most of the time in the afternoon. Before our arrival in Napier we visited the Waipunga falls and took some pretty pictures.

The paradise out here was worth to come, but somehow a boat was not available, but thank you for the virtual to save and keep up running.

TFTC

#2311
Geocaching with Jykk€. We were very luckily; there was a family with boat and they brought us to the sign. Then we went to swim with them, so warm . After that they took us with them and we went by boat to a very beautiful place, warm waterfalls, I loved it! Without that family we wouldn't never had this experience and without this cache we wouldn't never came to this place. Wonderfull place!! Greetings from Finland. TFTC + favo.
(I will add the photo later)

#2502
Thanks to Derek and Amanda+kids for that boat ride. Without it, this would had been the DNF.
We went also to the warm river with warm waterfalls. I think that this is the best cache ever found.
I found that Paradise.
Greetings from Finland.
TFTC+Favo

Was on my way back up north and saw this interesting spot. A great spot for a dip. It is so relaxing. Thanks

This entry was edited by TrailRunning on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 at 00:20:11 UTC.

What an amazing day. First time with our boat on Lake Ohakuri. Great spot for the boat and even better getting the tired limbs into the hot water at the GZ. When we arrived another lot explained to us on how to use the life jackets as floaties. Thanks for taking us there.

Graet area around here with lots to explore... favorite spot is "the squeeze" TFTC

A whole year since this cache was last logged. I attach a photo of the wakeboarding boat we used as well as Jimmy enjoying the unique nature of the cache. Well he wasn't actually enjoying it, in fact he was complaining because it was so hot, and refused to go in any deeper. The lake was very low and the water very hot. We rowed ino the hottest spot and couldn't keep our feet on the floor of the aluminium dinghy as it was just too hot. Thanks for a nice little adventure and for taking us to a spot we would not have got to otherwise.

Yip.....well done! And "big ups" for the commitment shown in access vehicle!! Would've been a big effort!

Yip well done...and you're right it's not a well kept secret! In fact the "lodge" in the description is no longer there (nor is the boat ramp) as the owner is attempting to erect "high quality timeshares" or something similar...shame...was a cool spot!

#953. What a paradise indeed. Found the water nice and warm ... with some parts quite hot actually. It is apparent that this place wasn't that much of a secret, with at least four other boats in the vicinity. No problems with muggles however. Email sent to owner. TFTC.

3.50pm. What a beautiful spot, paradise indeed, however we weren't able to get what we needed. Could see it, but couldn't reach it.
But enjoyable all the same.
Cheers M+S [:O)]

Have removed the entries that didn't actually find the Virtual Cache. It's not supposed to be easy, but the GoogleMaps picture sure takes most of the fun away! GoogleMaps wasn't around when I created the cache

We enjoyed camping near here for a few holidays years back and coming up to the hot water for a swim each night. Was a real party atmosphere every night. Floating drink holders were a necessity for many. Camping area is now closed with the area only used by skiers. Came back to show my 7yr old where we used to swim. Water low and steam visible and warm water a long way out. Swam and relaxed for over an hour before having to head on our travels. Speed restriction emailed. Thanks for bringing us back here.

Orakei Korako is a truly beautiful place. Carpark is undergoing refurbishment just at the moment but should not cause any problem--watching for heavy vehicles.

Beautiful, just beautiful. TFTC

Decided against the total immersion method but enjoyed the late afternoon tranquility with GGG and TreMichLan. TFTC

It's about time we hunted out this cache. Hmmmm, there's got to be more than one way to skin a cat! And we did it!! We decided today would be the perfect day for an adventure in undiscovered territory so after studying the Google map we headed off to Paradise. Along with half the population of NZ, it seemed. Boats in every inlet. It was quite a party place! What a fantastic little secret is hidden away here, well....not too secret considering the amount of people around, but it was still very enjoyable. Due to low lake levels some places resembled cooking pots, GZ was too hot to handle, but we managed to find a pool at the right temperature to suit us.
A great virtual cache, but 4 years old and only 3 visits?? Why on earth have there been so few?...there's more than one way to get here! And a boat ramp very close!
TNLN. Dipped Glitzy the Lure TB into Paradise.
Thanks for an awesome afternoon.



[This entry was edited by Punga and Paua on Monday, March 24, 2008 at 3:55:06 PM.]

Checked in travelling TBs into this wonderful cache spot.

We had been here three times before this visit using a variety of craft, twice from the dam direction and once from Orakei Korako. On the third visit we discovered a closer launch point which we used this time.

After launching the kayak we paddled to the speed limit sign, photographed it, then carried on to ground (or should that be lake) zero, where als photographed jfs enjoying the benefits of the thermal water. The total trip took less than ten minutes.

Note that the lodge at Orakei Korako is closed at present, whether temporarily or permanently we do not know.

Just wanted to add a couple more pictures of "bootlegger"
It took my brother 5 years to build.
Thanks for the cache!

Well Done TeamK1w1...looks like a fabulous boat too...what wood work!! I see you discovered the method of using the kneeboard to support the chillibin, whilst sitting in an upturned bouyancy vest...pure paradise!!

We were visiting family in New Zealand and my brother suggested we take a boat ride down from the dam and visit the hot spring. He and his wife have been down here many times after water skiing in the area. What an amazing place - the knee board made a floating bar and we relaxed the afternoon away.

This one has been unclaimed for too long so this morning we threw the canoe on the roof and off we went. Perfect tranquil autumn day with no wind so it was an easy paddle. I chickened out of the swim but my 8 yo daughter went in and it was very difficult to get her out since it was so warm in the water but rather chilly out.
Logged with permission.
Many thanks Slackie - this is indeed a paradise location.



[This entry was edited by Zorgon on Sunday, May 21, 2006 at 7:41:30 PM.]

Stopped by to drop off a Halloween treat.

Aussie based team Wakiwi is planning an assault on this cache Xmas/New Year. NZ based teams have been warned if you want the FTF rights.

I drop this virtual Ducky here...

Ahh Have been here many times, stayed in the lodge for a weekend every May for the last 3 years, no longer though as the lodge was planned to be torn down. Paradise is the location best enjoyed mid-morning with a nice port.

Just watch the weeds on the way in, they have been known (by a few of our group especially) to clog the coolant intakes of Outboards and jetskis very easily

Watch out for tree stumps. Had to rescue a boat after it ripped its keel out in here a few years ago. Great spot worth a visit. Don't have a photo of the speed sign but lived "just up the river". Does this count?

Sorry Wakiwi, rules for Virtual Cache are quite specific ... must supply what is required. How about taking another visit there seeing as you know where to go?!? Just the place to visit in cold weather!! (as I'm sure you're aware)