WIth the warmer weather encouraging more hikes around our National Parks on the central plateau, trampers returned full of questions about the Waihohonu Hilton? SWMBO referred them to a previous TRM report from seven years ago:
SWMBO apologises…
Above is the real Tongariro River Motel (TRM). Photos below are not. SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed manages everything in the Central Plateau Tongariro National Parks region) needs to explain…
SWMBO apologises to all prospective guests that were turned off by the photos which were somehow mistakenly placed on TRM website booking engines – such as Booking-dot-com, Expedia, etc. to illustrate what TRM is supposed to look like?
Now that it is the end of the busy tourist season we can now understand why TRM had some vacancies. Would you want to stay there? It looks a dump! It is.
TRM have just discovered (in 2016) the photos below that were placed on TRM’s website listings as being representative of the accommodation at TRM were DOC tramping huts…???
The photos were always headed by the image above of the neglected empty DOC tramping hut located at Waihohonu on the Tongariro Northern Circuit track.
But it gets worse. This hut had been abandoned by DOC and replaced with their “Tongariro Hilton” which also features together with some interior images which suggest TRM was more like a backpackers camp?
This Tongariro Hilton is almost ridiculous compared to other huts throughout the National Park.
We were told it was specially built when Prime Minister, Helen Clark, decided to stay a night. But that might be just sour grapes.
We prefer the story that it was built by DOC in anticipation of approval being given to bike access across the National Park from Desert Road to Whakapapa. DOC knew it would be so popular they built this accommodation to cope with the increase of hikers in helmets.
It is wonderful to see our taxes invested so wisely.
As TRM have advertised it on our website booking engine for the last six months (in 2016) it is only fair that DOC send us their usual booking fee commission?
If DOC had been trying to impress trampers they should have built it on the Tongariro Crossing – the most popular one day walk in NZ.
That is why TRM have an optional tracks programme for trampers who are trying to escape and get away from the crowds. They confirm it is much better and more enjoyable with far more variety than the Tongariro Crossing comprising a 2 hour waterfall loop tramp, a 2 hour tramp around a hidden lake and a 1-2 hour loop trail along the Tongariro River.
Some of the best trails are not on the maps. OK? Just ask SWMBO.
Then, finally, just to indicate how ancient TRM is, they added another. This was the original historic Waihohonu hut which was an overnight stop for the horse-drawn stagecoach wagon on the way from Tokaanu in those days to link to the Wanganui River steamer.
The usual north-south route in those days was from Taupo township – then a military outpost – across Lake Taupo to Tokaanu.
It might have been better if they had just featured the historical hut as it would obviously have been a deliberate spoof.
So SWMBO apologises for misleading you into thinking that the motel was similar to a remote tramping hut.
The Waihohonu Hilton cost over $750,000 in 2012 and provides 28 bunks. Comparatively, TRM was built in the late 1950s and provides eleven self-contained units sleeping thirty to forty anglers – all units have double queen size beds and single beds, all kitchens have full-sized ovens, covered parking, etc. the larger units have big fridge freezers for storing the smoked trout from TRM’s smokehouse, It is priceless.