Offroad-Express

Turoa, HOW could they stop me/us if I decided to just go?

NO!!, I am NOT advocating that this be done, was just throwing out a discussion line.
Why?

well cast yer mind back some 30 years, when the Taupo branch of NZDA took the Taupo Disct Council to court (and won) to force council into opening up the road across El Rancho Poronui.

Dunno if you Do remember, but the land owner was VERY sticky about this, we NZDA members couldnt even WALK over it, they would sic they dogs on us and ride us down with horses. Some even had guns pointed at them. We used to, after that, sneak thru at night following the stream bed.

We did inprove matters up to a point, forcing the land owner and council into allowing access over the Paper Road to the cliff, from which there was no driving way down. not even a safeish walking track. THEN the bastard council traded the paper road off to the land owner, which got us about halfway to the Oamaru River. (actually, the start of the Mohaka) reducing us to a mere 8 hour walk with heavy packs.

Thge situation did become tricky at times, with cut fences and shot stock. Retribution, I spose for the bullying tactics of the then American owners.
The paper road was even at one stage, ploughed up rough, with ditches dug across it in places and fenced in others. All to stop us from driving through and across THEIR land.

poronui is now divided up into at least two parcels, from memory, some went to Loch inver Staion, owned by the Stevenson family of Wright, Stevenson and co and some to a NZ family, one of whom was a Heliocopter pilot and used to fly us into the central high country.
BUT, you still cannot drive down to the confluence. Why? cos of the bloody TDC trading the road off to the land owners.

It always a bit of a hard one with places like Terawhiti, its private property and as private property is like our homes, access is a discresionary thing.

Terawhiti's a huge property and as far as farming goes its an exposed costal piece of sh*t covered in regrowth. For the place to survive and provide a return or to break even there is probably little choice other than working with Meridian to put their wind farm up there. Its the owners of Terawhitti that have their money tied up in the place and not us.

Considering Meridian or whoever it is that manages the national grid have been there since the year dot I'd doubt access will become shut off? Perhaps because of the sensitivity and opposition of the wind farm access may be denied while construction is going ahead but it would be likely to blow over (no pun intended)