“Yes, sadly, the time has arrived for us to retire properly, as SWMBO needs a rest. (She Who Must Be Obeyed is the manager of everything except the fishing) Instead of TRM fishing reports, you may now be subject to ZRE promotional videos. Zane is a much younger version and may be better looking, but he has one major fault. He is not a fly fisho. As such, we are sorry for him, as he can never imagine the appeal that TRM offers as the perfect trout fisherman’s retirement plan, located on a world-famous trout-fishing river. That is where I step in. 

TRM anglers have provided the most reliable guest profiles imaginable. They book in for longer periods and they keep coming back. They are more mature than normal tourists and care about looking after their units as they expect to return again and again. Many leave all their fishing gear here between visits. TRM has families who have been regularly returning here for over 30 years, and more! This is their second home. Several who started out as inmates are now neighbours.

I retired early, over 20 years ago, when I turned 60, to follow my retirement dream. It was the best lifestyle decision I have ever made. All the other questionable life decisions were made by SWMBO. I first fished the Tongariro River in the late 1950’s, dreaming even then that one day I would retire here. (This is all recorded in more detail in that wonderful mockumentary book, TONGARIRO Skulduggery, available in every unit.) 

Zane has a very strong track record in marketing residential properties and motels, appealing to the wider property demand. But as TRM is really set up for fishos, they deserve specialist treatment and consideration.  We just want to make sure that all the anglers out there realise what they might miss out on. Over the last twenty-plus years, we have had a number of guest inmates show interest, but we were not ready to sell back then. Now we are, so we need to make sure they all realise they could miss out on the perfect fly fisherman’s retirement lifestyle package of them all. Obviously, I am not biased. 

The truth is, the motel almost runs itself. It often had to, as I was usually out fishing. The website started publishing fishing reports back in 2004, before Facebook and other social media were even invented. Over such a long time, a loyal following increased. Therefore, all the promotional marketing has been done. Even the TRM brochure is a map of the Tongariro River pools, “Fifty Pools to Fish Before You Die”. In a normal month, TRM receives over 250,000 views on our own blogs, plus many more on other posts sent in to us. This makes the whole marketing challenge so much easier and positions TRM ahead of any other similar fishing motel in NZ. Experienced, reliable staff are available to do all the motel housekeeping and maintenance work.  

All you have to do is be here; you can bank all your superannuation as the motel pays for living expenses so that you can go fishing every day – if you have the energy. It provides a wonderful lifestyle plan for the end of your working life.  Tongariro anglers are such a fine bunch of people. Our only regret is that we did not start ten years earlier. An unexpected bonus for us was that among TRM inmates, we have formed many good, long-lasting friendships. Thank you so much! We owe them all for making our belated retirement experience so rewarding.

We just thought you should know…”