Wairakei is a small settlement, and geothermal area a few kilometres north of Taupō, in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand, on the Waikato River. It is part of the Taupō Volcanic Zone and features several natural geysers, hot pools. boiling mud pools, and the Wairakei Power Station, a major geothermal electric power generating station. The station was the second large-scale geothermal facility worldwide, and was commissioned in 1958. It was listed in the book 70 Wonders Of The Modern World published in 2000 by Reader's Digest to record The Eventful 20th Century.