The first was that controversial piece of geography in the Kaimanawa Forest Park, the Kaimanawa Wall. This is made up of at least four visible "stone blocks", each exactly 1.9m wide and 1.6m tall.
It's said there are more, similar blocks behind these and the question of who built them raised intense speculation in the mid-90s.
Was it a pyramid? An almost perfectly north-facing pagan altar? What about the mound behind it?
Reporters from the Listener, TV One and TV3 visited to explore these questions. Some even crossed the Tasman.
They speculated that the wall was a remnant of the so-called Waitaha nation, mythical white-skinned tribes who allegedly arrived in New Zealand 2000 years ago, only to be obliterated 700 to 800 years ago by the later-arriving Maori.
The overgrown Kaimanawa Wall in Clements Mill Rd Pictures / Debra-Rose Christensen
The wall caused a sensation for a few weeks but by late 1996 the excitement had all died away.
A DoC geologist declared the structure was merely an outcrop of 330,000-year-old volcanic rock, of a type common in Taupo's volcanic zone. Similar fractures resembling symmetrical blockwork can be seen at other places around the region.
It took us more than a full hour to reach Kaimanawa Forest Park by road from Wairakei and another couple of hours searching to find the wall. We took SH5 towards Napier, enjoying that rugged scenery until turning into Taharua Rd, then Clements Mill Rd, which leads deep into the park.
Sika Lodge, offering basic accommodation to hunters and hikers, is on the park boundary.
Be prepared for a boneshaking metal road and meeting hunters' utes on blind hairpin corners.
You'll near the wall (on the left travelling into the park) after a tedious 12km or so.
Reach the big clearing/campsite on your right - Clements Clearing - and you've gone too far.
Beware, Clements Mill Rd is narrow, bumpy and windy, with trucks and hunting utes coming the other way.
Work back from the clearing maybe 100m or so and you should find the wall (now on your right).
The wall is almost at road level, about 7m back from the road. A big red beech grows on top of the structure, making it resemble a tiny piece of Cambodia's overgrown Angkor Wat ruins.
There's no DoC sign but despite the frustration of driving past it, eventually finding the wall seemed well worth the effort. Recalling all that media attention 20 years ago, then finally being able to form one's own view, proved satisfying. I'm astonished the structure doesn't crop up as an interesting background for the likes of music videos and fashion shoots. Apparently local iwi have declared the site sacred, which could explain this, and also the lack of a sign.
But anonymity can be useful.
Sika Lodge managers Lance and Tracy Keightley say the wall was nearly destroyed by fossickers at the height of its fame.
"One old chap begged me to take him to the wall, then produced a divining rod and began locating 'long-forgotten bodies', he said were buried nearby," says Lance.
"There was a clap of thunder and he went to the ground looking scared. I had my rifle, and he must have thought I'd taken a shot."
Despite dealing with some of the unusual types who turn up to visit it, it's clear Lance enjoys having the mysterious wall on his patch.
"It's hard to believe it hasn't been man-made," he says.
"It would raise some exciting possibilities if it had been."
• Paul Charman travelled courtesy of BMW Group NZ and Wairakei Resort Taupo.
