The lake has always been a popular spot. In the early days, when Atiamuri was a staging point for coaches, a lodge was built there as a resort for tourists. It later became a popular fishery and today the lake attracts many people for water-skiing, picnicking, fishing and camping.
A-Tia-Muri literally means turned back and refers to the explorations of Tia of the Arawa canoe. The intrepid traveller had to turn back at the Atiamuri Rapids in his early explorations of the Waikato River.
The Government approved the Atiamuri station at the same time as the Ohakuri and Waipapa projects and work began on the fifth dam in the Waikato system in November 1953. Construction was completed six months ahead of schedule and the station was commissioned early in November 1958. Although originally designed for three generators, a fourth was later added and commissioned in 1962.
This cache, once found, will give you a segment of the co-ordinates of a bonus cache – see the cache POWER TO THE PEOPLE (GCVXA2) for details.
PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN REPLACING THE CACHE, DON'T PUT IT TOO CLOSE TO THE LAKE, IT RISES RIGHT UP TO THE BASE OF THE MAIN TREE AT TIMES - AND DON'T PUT A ROCK ON IT - PLASTIC BOXES BREAK EASILY!
You are looking for a 400ml sistema box. Note that at no stage of this cache hunt will you need to scale any fences, or enter any secure areas. Please also be aware that the river is not a place to swim. The water below the powerhouse is aerated, and a person is unable to float there. Do not attempt to enter the water anywhere.
This cache replaces an earlier cache GCW3Y5 listed in May 2006 as a puzzle (more appropriately a multi-cache on today’s classifications), where details of the station were read from the signs and the final waypoint calculated.
Unfortunately the signs have been removed, so the cache, including the existing box and log, has been re-listed as a traditional.
Logging Recommendations
This cache, (like most of Radionut50’s hides) is NOT meant to be hard to find – so logs saying ‘easy find’ are pretty meaningless. The reason for this hide is to introduce you to this piece of our country’s great history , so logs commenting on your experience are very welcome.