(SWMBO – TRM Manager – interviewing new staff)
Last ten of fifty important reasons to visit and stay in Turangi.
Thank you for all the feedback on the reasons for tourists to visit and stay in Turangi. Forty reasons were posted during the last week. Now the last ten…
Further wonderful reasons to stay and play in Turangi
Previous four TRM reports have each listed 10 reasons to visit Turangi, yet more good reasons – such as the most popular one day walk in NZ (had you noticed it had not been listed?) – still keep emerging. These were originally listed by TRM inmates in response to a series of fifty reasons listed to encourage tourists to visit Sweden. For tourists, Turangi can match all of Sweden!
Above – a fly fishing clinic at TRM for Reel Recovery – as therapy for cancer victims .
41 High Tea at the Chateau – Now Cancelled – Listed on previous reports but now temporarily closed.
Or instead you could have a squiz at a couple of our old videos added below to show the vast range of scenic attractions, or…
New option 41: Create a new walking/biking trail: If you hope to find yourself (?) or lose yourself (?) in the alpine wonderland, the Tongariro Crossing is not the place. On holiday weekends it gets too crowded. OK? Ask us for other unmarked tracks in the Tongariro National Park if you wish to climb a mountain – i.e. Mt. Tihia? – all on your own. Many prefer discovering their own trail in mature unspoilt native bush as more soothing and memorable. Or we have TRM’s special “Big Day Out” mountain bike route – four hours long or less on Ebikes – which you will never find on any map. Much more fun. It starts up at Tree Trunk Road and follows DOC managed trails and mountain roads and across dams and along canals and through forest roads to return on the Tongariro RIver Trails. To make it so much more doable, the overall trail is mainly downhill! Bikers from other regions claim it is the best one-day bike trail in NZ, but we cannot shout it out as sections of the interconnecting trails cross private land, and we have not told the owners yet.
The first fly fishing clinic at TRM in 2019, confined to women only.
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 a video (below) was prepared specially for them. Later we learnt that all they wanted to know was how far to walk to the Tongariro Tavern… Have a squiz at the Turangi version of a corporate box at the rugby on yesterday’s post – admire the stressed-out crowd! Life cannot get more “laid-back” than that…
43 – Traffic congestion – Turangi does not have a word for “traffic jam” or “congestion” in their vocabulary. Not even any traffic lights or scooters. On Turangi streets there are no such irritating delays. To try to look modern the Toe-paw Council installed a taxi stand but Turangi did not have any taxis. (One exception is a certain classic vintage airport taxi used for special fishy guests from a quirky motel) No need for a taxi in a small town – we can walk everywhere. The CBD is surrounded by spacious car parks that have never been filled in the last twenty years.
The nearest we could find to a local traffic snarl-up above was “grid-lock” on Taupahi Road in rush hour close to TRM where your usual city driving rules keeping to the left etc. were completely ignored. Just perfect…
Welcome to Turangi road rules.
44 – Local canine attractions – Many guests visit Turangi so they can take their friendly dogs for walkies down the Tongariro River tracks. Some especially nice motels are “pet-friendly”. Regular TRM inmates include anglers who cannot go fishing without their pooch. Other guests love the riverside ambience to let their dogs off the leash to be dogs again after the restrictive life on busy city streets. In the evenings a stroll along the Tongariro Riverbank is often more like a kennel club meeting.
(2025 Update: This pet-friendly offer is now limited to regular inmates who book directly with us only. Sadly some guests booked through OTA’s – Online Travel Agents – without advising they had dogs. They thought they would be sneaky. They arrived and created problems with big guard dogs that were not acceptable for any motel. We trust you will understand…)
45 – Tongariro Crossing – How amazing to get to Number 45 before listing the most popular one-day walk in NZ. Over 100,000 walkers per year cannot be wrong. Perhaps they love crowds? 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). The shuttle bus services are cancelled every time the weather deteriorates so a Plan B is essential. Ask for Plan B at TRM reception. It is a much better option than Plan A…
46 – Stress relief – Visit Lake O above – Turangi’s secret trophy lake – and concentrate on your pulse and blood pressure to feel any stress signs just drift away. That is what Turangi is all about. There are so many wilderness walks and places where you can relax and enjoy the great outdoors. This is the best trophy trout fishing lake in New Zealand. Recently a local newspaper featured an article about a TRM inmate who we called K (for Kayak). After 100 visits to Lake O from 2013 he 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. For non-believers, his catch rate analysis chart is available for inspection in TRM reception.
47 – Historic sites –
Located on SH 47, Te Porere Redoubt is the historic site of the fighting in 1869 between the Maori rebel, Te Kooti, and government troops. This was the last battle of the Maori wars. After 150 years, these man-made fortifications remain intact. The well-preserved layout resembles a little fortified castle. Kids will love it.
The walk to the first redoubt is about ten minutes to the clearing. However, it is well worth the few extra minutes uphill through dense bush to the second and more impressive redoubt, where one can imagine the fierce fighting that occurred.
48 – Water therapy. There are several choices so to avoid confusion, they have been labelled like a genuine tourism report:
48 A Tongariro River The most popular local swimming relaxing aquatic playground in a very natural setting is the Breakfast Pool. Anglers should note the local kids think it all belongs to them and TRM often get complaints of them throwing stones and showing off to each other when fishos approach. The kids often float down from above the swing bridge. Anglers are reminded to limit wading and casting to early mornings – before 10 am – or target the evening rise on evenings when the kids have gone.
48 B Turangi Turtle Pool is a modern indoor heated complex located in the CBD providing four heated pools to provide for every requirement. These include:
48 B (1) A 25 m (1.1m deep) lane pool for serious training and recovery stuff.
48 B (2) A learners pool (0.9m deep)
48 B (3) A toddlers pool
48 B (4) A new aquatic climbing wall 3.5m high.
48 B (5) A bombing aquarobics pool (1.8m deep).
48 C Tokaanu Thermal Pools These offer thermal heated (39 to 41 C) therapeutic private pools with a (chlorinated) public pool (36 to 38C) and toddlers have their own splash around pool beside the main pool. Open from 10am to 9pm. Children aged under five are free.
The local Maoris settled in this thermal area beside the Tokaanu Stream around the 16th century. European invaders started to use the pools once Tokaanu was established as a major stopover on the Wellington to Auckland “Grand Tour” route – via the W(h?)anganui River to Pipiriki, then by stage coach to Tokaanu overnight before catching the steamer to Taupo from the still remaining historic Tokaanu Wharf.
Near the Tokaanu Thermal Pool is the Tokaanu Hotel. The old Government Tourist Department originally owned the Tokaanu Hotel nearby. It has seen better days… Back then earlier in the 20th century this hotel was right up there with the Chateau Tongariro and Wairakei Resort Hotels catering for the growing international tourist trade.
48 D Lake Taupo Within a short drive on SH1 north of Turangi is Frethey Drive, providing access to a pleasant beach with toilets. This is a very safe beach for kids swimming or sun bathing. The building structure is the Turangi Yacht Club. The unsealed track off the end of the huge car park leads to the mouth of the Waiotaka Stream.
If you examine the “Turangi Tongariro Activity Map” you will have difficulty locating this stream. That is probably because it is missing! That is obviously deliberate – a cunning scheme to confuse tourists. In many other famous trout fishing meccas, the locals have to keep some streams off any tourist maps to add to the mystique and provide some quiet uninterrupted peace for themselves. OK? Hint, hint…
(Inquisitive perceptive readers may have noticed TRM’s spelling often follows the recently corrected (?) pronunciation for “Taupo”. We even received complaints… The latest tourist booklet produced by the Taupo Council confirms the pronunciation as “Toe-Paw“, just in case you were wondering… TRM is always so pedantic and sooo pc.)
49 Thermal walk. Another underrated tourist attraction is the thermal bush walk beside the Tokaanu thermal pools. It is easily missed. After you cross the footbridge (look out for trout in the Tokaanu Stream) turn left from the pool reception and take the short walk around the spluttering bubbling farting steaming hot mineral mud pools. Look out for steam rising from holes in the ground – this is where locals cook (steam) their trout while they are having a dip. (TRM inmates cooked Christmas dinner in there one year!)
50A A stream encased under a SH 41 road bridge? Another tourist curiosity – unique in NZ? – is the bridge across the tailrace on SH41 below the Tokaanu power station. When they developed the hydropower scheme, a major engineering challenge was the site where the Tokaanu Stream crossed in front of the power station. Apart from being an important trout breeding stream, this is also the source of drinking water for Turangi. The engineers re-routed the stream under the SH41 bridge over the tailrace. Very clever…
50B A no-go attraction. Beyond Tokaanu is a private Maori village known as Little Waihi. This has a wonderful scenic waterfall (see image above) but casual visiting is not encouraged by local inhabitants. So all you can enjoy is our images instead.
So that ends over fifty reasons to visit Turangi. Best wishes to everyone for a happy holiday in Turangi. Check out the brief videos below that were shot about ten years ago – readers might note some minor changes need updating, but the message is still the same… Turangi has it all! Book now!
(Above is the most popular brief video from TRM’s library in the last ten years. It features all the tourist attractions within 5 minutes from TRM, with the lyrics all in Te Reo. Explain that to marketing gurus!)
Tomorrow, the TRM blog is even more intriguing. After five days of blogs listing 50 irresistible reasons to visit Turangi, it now reveals the big secret of why TRM has survived after 65 years. Other motels have come and gone in recent times, but TRM has a secret advantage that no other motel in NZ can match! Can you guess it?