Mother & Daughter – Sophie & Corrie-Ann Jones from Auckland, enjoying the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
But how did they do it without the crowds of tourists? Read below for their cunning strategy…
This is another beautiful TRM inmates’s warm fuzzies story on how to enjoy a perfect family holiday. TRM often rave about all the outdoor activities in the Tongariro National Park and Turangi region but rarely have any evidence. Fortunately, thanks to these special inmates, this time we managed to catch some of the excitement in the following images.
Dad – Greg on right – is obviously a keen angler whose personal idea of recreation is to fly fish the Tongariro River.
He has been an inmate at TRM for many years – the image above was taken in 2015.
For his 2018 “fix” he included Corrie-Ann and Sophie, his wife and daughter as well.
Unfortunately they are not fishos (yet? we are still working on that…) but do enjoy the great outdoors.
So how did they manage to pass their time in the republic of Turangi?
The images are self explanatory to a point. We think they managed marvelously.
The first day of their holiday started with a bike ride on TRM hire bikes for 13 km around the Tongariro River Trail.
They loved it. Neither are regular bikers so that just added to the fun – a new learning experience.
They are now hooked on biking and looking for other bike trails near Turangi.
SWMBO suggested other tracks – Tree Trunk Gorge to Pillars of Hercules, Timber Trail, Waihaha, but their aim was to investigate other recreational pursuits in Turangi as well, to prepare for future holidays in this region.
Meanwhile Greg went fishing – nymphing on the Tongariro River pools within easy walking distance of TRM.
On his first morning he scored with the trophy brown trout in the pic above (drifting a glo bug in Judges Pool – in anticipation of your question).
So next on their bucket list was the most popular one day walk in NZ – the 19km Tongariro Alpine Crossing. SWMBO warned them of the crowding issues so they organised their ‘driver’, Greg, to drop them off as late as possible, after his morning fishing session, around 10 am. What a cunning strategy.
By the time they started at 10:30 all the bus loads of tourists had disappeared. They reached the Red Crater and lakes in seclusion, allowing them to truly enjoy the breathtaking views. They were both fit enough to complete the 19 km plus photo stops, a detour to soda springs, and lunch in about 6 hours.
As their image above indicates, they almost had the track to themselves. There is an important message here for anyone else contemplating the crossing – leave as late as possible!.
At the finish they phoned their driver, who had been fishing nearby at Lake Otamangakau, to collect them. They returned to TRM by 4 pm. Very sensible planning.
Next day was fine so the best choice was a cool combo promoted by RaftingNZ with sky diving in the morning and rafting for the afternoon.
What brave ladies… they used Greg’s CC…
Above are Corrie-Ann and Sophie looking like astronauts all dressed up in flying gear, revved up, adrenaline pumped, ready to go…
They were still bravely smiling and trying to look relaxed (?) – they did not look nervous at all at that stage.
Then to recover and relax for the afternoon programme they surfed down the Tongariro River rapids – 2 hours of the best Grade 3 rafting adventure in NZ over 14 km with over 20 rapids through volcanic gorges… Wow!
After such a hectic day they recovered in a natural hot spa at Tokaanu Pools.
This is another one of our under-rated little 100% pure natural local treasures. If this was anywhere else it would be developed like Hamner Springs but in Tokaanu it is straight out of the 1950’s architecture – or read obsolete. Locals like to pretend it is deliberate to look like a “retro” fit. Some tourists will believe anything?
Locals still cook their dinner in the steam. The key element for tourists is the therapeutic healing qualities of the boiling artesian water. It combines natural stress relief and skin reacts to become all smooth and “velvety” to guarantee a good nights sleep.
Then on Friday TV1’s Dan forecast heavy rain? (As usual he was totally wrong for Turangi. Australian visitors who drove down from Auckland said it rained all the way until they got to Turangi.)
So SWMBO had to invent Plan B – Her wet day option was to survive about 40 minutes jammed into a well driven limo (TRM’s taxi) to have a “High Tea” at Chateau Tongariro. The images tell the story.
So while SWMBO played tour guide to direct Her driver to take the Ladies to Chateau Tongariro, Greg – the poor ever suffering fisho – had to somehow mange his own less sophisticated moorish “High tea” – pic below….
The “high tea” was such a success that Barry Stuck’s first wife from Unit 7 – Trish – came too with her friend who was staying at another motel in Taupahi Road – but she decided TRM’s hospitality escape plan was worth the risk so she came too.
Truth is Barry originally organised this whole “high tea” adventure so he could spend all day fishing on Lake O. and for the laundry staff could escape too.
The reason this is mentioned in confidence of course, is that TRM’s elderly taxi only has four seats.
If you add in the geriatric driver that makes six. And Trish insisted everyone had to wear a seat belt. Rather tricky very intimate arrangements…
After their high tea Corrie-Ann and Sophie worked it off walking for a couple of hours over the beautiful bush trails around Kuratau and Omori through to Pukawa.
So that is a small taste of three days of holiday variety activities available for wives/partners at TRM. They are already planning their return to climb Mt. Ruapehu, bike Timber Trail, walk to Taranaki Falls, bike Waihaha Trail, etc..
If you enjoy new experiences with adventure and variety in the great outdoors, what an amazing place for a holiday.
