High quality management finally acknowledged…
(Image on right of bikers starting young on the Tongariro River Trail…)
As regular readers will have noticed, SWMBO – She Who Must Be Obeyed is the Manager of anything She finds in Turangi – is away on sick leave aka shopping leave. Her management system is so efficient all She had to worry about was whether the laundry staff had remembered to water the garden.
Meanwhile TRM guests, aka inmates, acknowledged how difficult it was to manage a motel of anglers – like herding cats? – by presenting the staff with hot muffins for their morning tea. Thank you to Lizzie from Unit 6. See report yesterday.
But finally the real quality TRM management guru has been recognised. Paula and Bryan arrived with this to compliment my dinner – I am not sure how to describe it – (I don’t watch cooking shows) something like a cheesecake custard crumble on top of new season fresh picked wild blackberries from along the banks of the Tongariro River, delivered by American tourists (from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, USA) Bryan and Paula from Unit 5. He also landed his first Tongariro Rainbow trout so we all had a good day..
Warning to other inmates…
Other guests should be warned – Paula was so impressed with TRM’s very reasonable room rates that she insisted on doing all the cleaning herself. She could not believe that SWMBO had deserted me to try to manage TRM by myself. Just in case you doubt me (?) I took her photo on the iPad.
The TRM house-keeping team are also worried they could become redundant as this extraordinary goodwill from inmates could be infectious and others will soon be insisting on doing their cleaning themselves too? Obviously it should be encouraged while SWMBO is missing. Paula and Bryan were resting here for a day after biking over from Taumaranui. The day before that they had biked and camped on the Timber Trail.. etc..
They are on a bike marathon through NZ. What a wonderful way to see the country – biking and camping on route. They specially rode across to Turangi for Brian to fish the Tongariro River. He had to tick that box on his Bucket List. How they even found the energy to pick the fruit and construct my dessert is beyond me, but I am very grateful. It doesn’t get much better than that…
On tripadvisor they left a message:
My husband and I are doing a two-month tour of New Zealand on bicycles. We arrived, hot and tired, and mentioned to the owner, Ross, that we would like to do some fly fishing. He loaned us gear and pointed us to some wonderful waters just a couple of blocks from the motel. We have had a wonderful couple of fun and relaxing days. It feels like we are staying with dear friends in a very nicely appointed and immaculate guest cottage. Thank you so much, Ross and Pip!
North Island bike trail links missing?
But it was what they had to say about the bike trails that was so interesting. They have met many other bikers on the road (or trails) riding south and discussed the best routes etc. Most start in the far north and have to decide on the best trail to get to Wellington.
Naturally they are all excited about the choice of trails and scenery and most of all the Kiwi hospitality thing.
But their concern, shared by many others, is the lack of any links to Taupo and Turangi heading south. Most bikers heading south (following Kennett’s Bros guide books) end up following the Waikato River Trail to keep linking with other trails and end up disappointed after missing out on the Great Lake Taupo trails as they fail to link up.
The Taupo bike trails, such as W2K (Whakaipo Bay to Kinloch) and extensions heading around to Waihaha (images from Waihaha Bike trail on right and below) were built and extended to satisfy demand from local club bikers and Kiwis rather than overseas tourists. The local trails have been planned from Taupo without any regard to the wider picture… 
This is not any criticism of Bike Taupo as they have done a wonderful job for their club members. But what should be of concern to DGLT (Destination Great Lake Taupo are Taupo Council’s tourist agency to promote tourism) – these bikers from overseas tell us that Taupo is missing out on most of the tourist bikers from overseas as they do not connect with the Waikato River Trails to the north and (most important of all) fail to head south around the eastern lake edge to link with the world famous tourist mecca of Turangi – the gateway to Tongariro National Park.
That is why the missing link – T2T (Taupo to Turangi) is so important and needs to become a priority in any bike trail strategic planning. If this T2T trail was available they tell us it would attract many more tourist bikers to link with Taupo on their great NZ traverse.
This biking tourist market is increasing so much and is so important as NZ’s biggest industry and largest ‘earner’ that Government will have to step up and provide funding for the T2T as there is no way that little Turangi can afford it. 
Meanwhile, while waiting for SWMBO’s return…
