Previous four TRM reports have listed 40 reasons to visit Turangi and other amazing attractions – such as the most popular one-day walk in NZ (had you noticed it had not been listed?) – still keep emerging.
These were in response to a series of fifty reasons listed to encourage tourists to visit Sweden. Turangi has it all.
41 High Tea – A special treat, very popular with wives and partners of anglers, is to take a trip up to the Chateau on Mt. Ruapehu for their High Tea. A memorable trip back about 70 years to an Edwardian drawing room setting complete with chandeliers and everything you ever imagined a ‘high tea’ might have.
Some VIP guests hire TRM’s elderly driver to deliver them in style, in a vintage Bentley – to make their visit even more exciting.
42 – Five minutes to everywhere – TRM had a special request from anglers from West Island to advise of any facilities within a five-minute walk of TRM, so the following video was prepared specially for them. Later we realised that all they wanted to know was how far to walk to and back from the Tongariro Tavern…
43 – Traffic congestion – Turangi does not have this word, or “traffic jam” in their vocabulary. No traffic lights. There are no such traffic controlling devices. To try to look modern there is a taxi stand but no taxis. The CBD is surrounded by spacious car parks that have never been full in the last twenty years. The nearest we could find to a traffic snarl-up was “grid-lock” on Taupahi Road close to TRM where your usual city driving rules keeping to the left etc. were completely ignored. Welcome to Turangi rules.
44 – Local canine attractions – This is true. Some guests have visited Turangi so they can take their friendly dogs for walkies down the Tongariro River tracks. In larger cities people pay to have their dogs walked… Never in Turangi. Just recently some notices have been posted along the river walk warning of poison (1080) being spread so we can only recommend the western (Town side) trails in the meantime.
45 – Tongariro Crossing – How amazing to reach Number 45 before listing the most popular one day walk in NZ. This clearly shows how many other activities take place in Turangi. As it is on everyone’s bucket list we provide a brief “safety” video to warn inmates to be prepared for the alpine weather when some guests climbed Mt. Doom (Ngaurahoe). Another warning. If you hope to find yourself (?) or lose yourself (?) in the alpine wonderland, this is not the place. On fine summer weekends or public holidays it gets very crowded. OK?
46 – Stress relief – Have a brief perusal at the following brief slide show of Lake O and concentrate on your pulse and blood pressure to feel the pressure just drift away. That is what Turangi is all about.
47 – Historic sites –
Located on SH 47, Te Porere Redoubt is the site of the historic battle in 1869 between Te Kooti and government troops – the last battle of the Maori wars. After 150 years these man-made fortifications are still in evidence.
The walk to the first redoubt is about ten minutes through scrubby Manuka to the clearing. However, it is well worth the 15-20 minutes uphill through dense bush to the second and more impressive redoubt, where one can imagine the fierce fighting that went on.
48 – Lake Otamangakau – This is the best trophy trout fishing lake in New Zealand and well-known by most trout anglers. Reason No 46 above illustrates the serene nature of this remote location. The Fishing & Outdoors newspaper featured an article about a TRM inmate who we called K (for Kayak). After 100 visits to Lake O since 2013 he has landed 629 trout – an average of 6.29 per day. Quite extraordinary when you also factor in that he only goes at peak times over Christmas and Easter holidays. The short video below is of another inmate, Stuart Nicol from West Island, showing how good TRM “water-strider” rafts are on Lake O…
49 – Other reasons – Even after reaching fifty we discovered other reasons to visit Turangi, but the most important – the people – are reviewed in the following short video. The strategic convenient location, halfway to everywhere in the middle of the North Island, attracts many folk looking forward to a relaxed affordable retirement. Everywhere else in the North Island is then within easy day-trip distance so they can visit friends and family all over. Then they discover that they don’t have to drive anywhere as the rest of the North Island all want to visit Turangi.
50 – Turangi is an international BOF’s (Boring Old Farts) meeting place. The very nature of trout fishing attracts such a wide range of diverse characters who all have different reasons to follow their addiction/sport/recreation/hobby whatever. Some of the TRM inmates meet here every year on their annual pilgrimage to mecca. The Hall of Fame inmates were filmed a few years ago so apologies to more recent converted disciples who are not included.