The fine art of fishy business
Ross Baker receives his award for being a ‘good sort’.
Tūrangi has a few local legends but when it comes to environmental awareness and a bit of “skulduggery” one name pops to the top of any Google search.
Tongariro River Motel owner Ross Baker has been spreading the word about various things since he moved there 20 years ago – and most of it is true - like his unconditional support for river health.
He was recently nominated for the Harcourts Good Sort award, by his good mate and fellow “troublemaker” Dave Cade – better known as Didymo Dave.
Ross says he bought the motel so he could go fishing.
“Absolutely ridiculous bloody investment decision. For my retirement – priceless.”
He and his wife Pip are now in their 80’s and while the ankles aren’t what they used to be and the hearing is “gone”, he still has plenty of energy, that trademark banter and a sense that mischief is about to happen.
“I'm ready to retire, but the wife likes it so much, we’ve just carried on. Stupid, we're both over 80 and trying to run a motel is just ridiculous.”
They have good people doing a lot of the work, which frees up a bit of spare time for environmental advocacy.
Didymo Dave said Ross has been an advocate for the Tongariro River since before he started his own work in 2007.
“For the last 17 years through his Tongariro River Motel website, Ross has been the number one promoter of environmental, biosecurity and conservation matters in New Zealand as far as accommodation providers go.
“Many times, I’ve met overseas fishermen on the riverbanks of the Taupō area who knew how to check, clean, dry and move with clean gear. They learn that from what they read on Ross’ website before they even arrive in New Zealand.”
Ross said the website and a big social media presence evolved early on, starting with fishing reports.
“And then time went on, the others, the shops started doing fishing reports so then I just slipped into more touristy stuff and Facebook came along and I got on that.”
He’s also not afraid of a bit of controversy and he still gets the odd angry phone call and letters in relation to his book Tongariro Skulduggery – a curious mix of facts and fiction – with some outrageous claims that were meant to be tongue in cheek.
Dave and Ross are happy to put their reputations on the line to boost the profile of their Check, Clean, Dry message.
“The didymo was what kicked off the Check, Clean, Dry programme, but it wasn't too long after that until we realised we needed to change from didymo to all freshwater pests,” Dave said.
“Anything, we will have a go at it (for publicity) as long as it's legal.”
That has included a semi-naked rain dance which made the front page of The Weekender a few years back, and Didymo Davina, who gets rolled out on occasion, threatening to “spank” fishermen who don’t keep their gear clean.
“I rang Dame Edna Everage in Australia and asked for her help … she was busy on her schedule and all the rest of it, but she put us on to her long-lost New Zealand cousin Dame Didymo Davina who rocked up At Lake O (Otamangakau) one day in Ross's Bentley car.”
Ross enjoys the lifestyle of the motel, which is often called the ‘didymo motel’ because of all the signs on the fence and he has a regular clientele who come and stay in the same rooms, use his freezers to store the fish they catch and clean their gear before they leave.