The father-of-five told the Rotorua Daily Post the plan was to sell his Tarawera home, and his daughter would sell her Auckland home.<\/p>\n
They would then \u201clook for a little piece of land somewhere out of Auckland with a paddock and a bit of bush and a cottage and a house\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to stay in the cottage and they\u2019re going to look after me, which is quite nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m just going to spend time travelling around the country hunting and fishing … while I\u2019ve still got my health.\u201d<\/p>\n
He planned to set off in his ute with \u201ca couple of big chilly bins in the back\u201d and return with venison and seafood.<\/p>\n
Thomas said New Zealand was \u201cparadise if you\u2019re into the outdoors\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s Fiordland or the Far North … the best snapper fishing is in the top of New Zealand … and I\u2019ll be spending a fair bit of time up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geoff Thomas, of Outdoors with Geoff, is selling his Lake Tarawera home ‘Rainbow’s Return’ which he has owned since 2012. Photo \/ Supplied <\/p>\n
Originally from Auckland, Thomas said his family had been coming to Tarawera for three generations. His grandfather bought a house in Waitangi Bay in 1945.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, he helped put the road in. There was no road.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had seen many changes in his lifetime.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be a gravel road, and we could shoot a deer and shoot a pig and shoot a pheasant … but now of course, it\u2019s got a tar seal road and a school bus and it\u2019s basically a suburb of Rotorua.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said he lived in Rotorua from 1970 to 1990, and spent some time working at the Rotorua Daily Post.<\/p>\n
Spanning 35 years, Thomas produced and hosted nearly 500 shows of Outdoors With Geoff, highlighting outdoor adventures at locations across New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and around the world, a Bayleys statement said.<\/p>\n
The last episode aired in 2016. <\/p>\n
Thomas also wrote 12 fishing and hunting books, hosted a Saturday morning fishing show on Radio Sport for 16 years, started and edited the glossy NZ Fishing World magazine, and was a regular columnist for the New Zealand Herald and Herald on Sunday, it said.<\/p>\n
Geoff Thomas, of Outdoors with Geoff, has lived full-time at his Lake Tarawera home since 2016. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Thomas said he bought the Tarawera house as a holiday home in April 2012. He moved in 2016 after retiring from the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have entertained a lot of people here … I love having friends here and taking them fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said he had another daughter living in New Plymouth, and a son and daughter in Nelson.<\/p>\n
He also had eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey all love coming here, it\u2019s always been a great family place.\u201d<\/p>\n
He planned to spend more time with his family after selling.<\/p>\n
Geoff Thomas, of Outdoors with Geoff, caught a trout on the first night at his new home. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Thomas said two Tarawera properties had a stream that ran by them and into the lake. One was in Waitangi Bay, which his grandfather had owned, and the other was Thomas\u2019 home.<\/p>\n
He penned the name \u201cRainbow\u2019s Return\u201d for his home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rainbow trout come up every year from the lake to spawn in the stream by the house …\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said he caught a trout the first night at his new home, which was \u201cquite good karma\u201d.<\/p>\n
Geoff Thomas pictured in 2010. Photo \/ Water Scene<\/p>\n
Thomas said he hoped its new owners were interested in fishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a fish factory here, I\u2019ve set up a table to clean the fish and a safe where I hang the fish … then I\u2019ve got a big smoker which goes most days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can hopefully help point them in the right direction, which lures to use, and maybe help them catch a fish and they can continue the trout fishing tradition hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019 home at 483 Spencer Rd is being marketed for sale by tender through Bayleys Rotorua, with offers closing on April 9.<\/p>\n
The top three sales in Tarawera since January 2025 were all on Spencer Rd. The highest sold for $1.625m in January 2025, followed by a $1.5m property in September 2025, and a $1.3m in April 2025, according to Valocity.<\/p>\n