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Tongariro Centre
Hillary Outdoors Tongariro is located in a beautiful wilderness area of the Central North Island adjacent to the Tongariro National Park. Established in 1887, Tongariro was the first national park in New Zealand, and it is also a dual World Heritage area.
This status recognises the park’s important Maori cultural and spiritual associations as well as its outstanding volcanic features. Hillary Outdoors Tongariro offers an infinite variety of natural environments providing life-changing experiences that are fun and expertly managed. The centre is situated 3km off State Highway 47 on the western side of Tongariro National Park.
It is an area rich in natural and cultural history surrounded by lakes, rivers, mountains and native bush. To find us, travel viaTurangi, National Park or Tokaanu, onto State Highway 47. We can be found approximately 25km along this road from each of these townships. The Centre is well signposted from the main road.
Accommodation
This purpose-built adult training facility can accommodate up to 20 people in twin share rooms (full linen provided). The full-time Catering Manager offers sumptuous meals and can accommodate most special dietary requirements.
The Centre has stunning views of Tongariro National Park and is set amongst native bush. There is a fully equipped conference room with AV equipment, comfortable lounge, open fire and bar facilities. You may have sole use of this facility for the duration of your stay.
The Centre is popular with corporates and management consultants who use it for their conferences, planning sessions, and team-building leadership programmes. To enquire about booking The Leadership Centre please contact us for details.
Thanks to the generosity of Genesis Energy who have donated their surplus buildings to Hillary Outdoors, we have acquired another leadership facility.The Outdoor Leadership School was originally a Visitor Centre in Tokaanu before it was refurbished and relocated to our Taurewa site. Accommodating up to 30 people, the facilities include 12 large bedrooms, drying rooms, lecture/conference room, lounge, dining room, and decks. The Outdoor Leadership School is ideal for groups who want to mix outdoor activities with classroom-based theoretical sessions or conferences.
Should your group number more than this, we can accommodate up to 150 more people in alternative Hillary Outdoors sites such as the Youth Development Centre. Please note that you can use our accommodation facilities without the use of an instructor, and can be set up for conferencing only. Hillary Outdoors Tongariro has a range of accommodation available across our two sites within ten minutes of each other.
The Youth Development Centre (YDC) was officially opened in July 1996. The YDC is architecturally designed to fit in with the natural surroundings and has magnificent views of the mountains.
Facilities include a main dining room, lounge, a break-out room, and three adjacent accommodation blocks. Each accommodation block is composed of two chalets, each with a ten-bunk room, shower and toilet facilities, and drying room. Adjacent to each bunk room there is a teachers room that sleeps two. The bunkrooms have mattresses and normally participants provide their own sleeping bags and pillows.
The YDC sleeps up to 60 students and up to 12 accompanying adults and is perfect for school or youth groups, large induction programmes, and conferences. It has fully equipped conference facilities and a full time cook.
Taurewa Lodge is a self-contained building renovated from the original cook house of the old Taurewa milling village. It provides separate accommodation 10 minutes from the main Hillary Outdoors campus. The Lodge is comfortable with a large lounge and wood fire. It has bunk-style accommodation with six bunkrooms and provides a stunning uninterrupted view of the mountains.
Taurewa Lodge sleeps up to 35 people. Mattresses are provided but participants need to bring sleeping bags and pillows. The kitchen is fully equipped including a commercial oven, hot plate, fridge and microwave. A drying room gets those outdoor clothes dry overnight.
Kayak Rolling Pool
The Kayak rolling pool was opened in 2004 and is designed especially for kayak rolling and flat water kayak skills sessions.
The indoor pool measures 25m by 7m.
The pool is designated as a ‘school pool’, and as such, there are strict policies and procedures to be adhered to. The pool was made possible by generous grants from the Lottery Grants Board, Trust Waikato, and the J.R. McKenzie Trust.
The Resource Centre (RC)
This building houses the gear department stores where most of our activity equipment is kept. The gear department is run by our Resource Officer who is responsible for checking and looking after the gear. Inside the RC there is a large open space where groups can collect together, ‘gear up’ and get organised for the day’s activities.
There is an indoor climbing wall at one end of the building and a bouldering wall at the other, plus a large drying room and changing rooms with toilet and shower facilities. Outside is storage for canoes and kayaks as well as facilities for groups to clean up their activity gear prior to handing it in.