Whistling Frog Café & Resort at Cathedral Caves
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Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
Whistling Frog Café & Resort at Cathedral CavesCommercial organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ Southland ▷ Waikawa |
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Categories |
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Operating Season And Hours |
8: 30 am till 8:00 pm - 7 days a week. Evening diners will need to be seated by 7 pm please. Check in with café reception. |
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Directions To Coordinates |
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Coordinates |
Camping Grounds
Dump Station
Reviews
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4.5/5
Great location, good facilities, super friendly owners and staff, and not that expansive (35 $ for a single person on a non-powered site).
Highly recommendable.
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3.5/5
10 Sterne für die netten Menschen, die diesen Platz betreiben.
Alle Einrichtungen sind sauber. Die Plätze für den campervan ausreichend große.
Das Restaurant ist klasse. Es hat uns einen verregneten Abend verschönert. Haben wir etwas vermisst? Nein. Wer kalt duschen möchte, kommt hier nicht auf seine Gunsten.
Der Preis ist höher als bei vergleichbar ausgestatteten Plätzen. Richtig.
Optimierbar. Ablagen in den Waschräumen und Waschmaschinen, die warm waschen.
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3.0/5
Adequate facilities but watch happy hour as only a few things in it.
Bought a small coke & a pint of beer was $20.!! Dump station $10 so empty before you arrive. Boasts a restaurant but it’s pizza or pizza. Overall an expensive place to stay.
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2.0/5
I think the place has great potential due to its location, but is not maintained anymore or at a very low standard.
Not sure when the kitchen and bathrooms were last cleaned (though it didn’t look very filthy, just an overall impression - bins not emptied and dirt on the floor). Grass not mowed for a long time, power poles broken, etc. Camped here for one night with my family of four. There is also a restaurant, but we didn’t dare to try because of all the bad reviews (Google).
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0.5/5
Oh my goodness, where to start?
Overpriced, falsely advertised, disgusting lack of cleanliness...
Location five stars! Rooms zero. Service zero, as there was none.
We paid to stay two nights as the website has it as the Place To Stay... so much to do!! As a result we planned to be here to hang out for a couple of days, like a little stop and rest. However, there was no-one here. The cafe was shut (even though the website ensured us they were open though winter from 8am, and the signs on the road said OPEN OPEN OPEN), there was no pizza starting from 3pm, again, website totally misleading, and the young Indian lady we managed to find after an hour of waiting told us to go back in because "he will be back in a few minutes so you can order pizza", there was DEFINITELY no happy hour starting at 4.30, although we were tempted to start our own. The outdoor tables had mould growing in rings on them. I say HAD because I couldn't cope with it and cleaned them all.
We paid for a powered site, and for that there was a "Guest Lounge." The guest lounge not only a broken pane of glass, but half of it was missing and there was rain soaking the curtains and carpet. So where do visitors hang out? Certainly not at the bar and cafe, that was shut. The waste bin in the kitchen had not been emptied for a very long time, ditto the bathroom.
We definitely didn't stay the two nights. We drove out the next morning to find food and somewhere better to stay. We found some other awesome places in the Catlins, cheaper and with friendly faces to check us in.
I need to add that the one guy we met - the manager - is doing his best in an untennable position. He was sent in to placate us when we complained by phone about there being no one here, no food, no coffee, no service. He is the only person working and the owners are not employing anyone on his days off. (His days off being the two days we had booked, hence no service and nothing open. They are simply not employing enough people.
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3.5/5
Nice tidy campsite, but at $55/ night we felt was a bit steep.
The powered campsite resembled more like a carpark. However it is close to the McLean Falls and Cathedral caves, staff were friendly.
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4.5/5
Cute wee spot in the Bush.
They have a bar and restaurant onsite- we went down for happy hour and had chips, the food coming out looks amazing though! We got a powered site, close to facilities, good showers and clean toilets. The kitchen is good, it is a wee bit small and got very crowded at breakfast and dinner times. Overall a nice place to stay and if you do you must nip up the hill and check out the cathedral caves!
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3.5/5
Average bathrooms and showers.
Good communal kitchen with utensils. A bit pricey ($46 for 2 ppl powered site)
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4.5/5
I really don’t understand the previous negative reviews of this place.
We booked for a tent site but decided to upgrade to a hut on account of previous sleepless nights and some weather coming in. The staff were friendly and accommodating, the facilities were great and the restaurant served brilliant food. I noticed someone previously complained that the kitchen closed too early. First, I think it’s entirely fair to close the kitchen at a designated time particularly if few people want food, however, when we stayed they kept the kitchen open for a number of latecomers (us included).
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5.0/5
We got snowed in here for an extra night and actually ended up glad that we did!
Very friendly and warm welcome in mid winter from the young people running the camp. The second night they canned the normal cafe menu and made a huge roast lamb dinner for any of the three or four groups who were stuck and keen to join them. We ate at the cafe the night before and the food was great. Talented and passionate chefs in the kitchen producing food far beyond expectation In such a far flung place. Great local knowledge gave us good tips on where to visit for good photo ops. Facilities were fine and hot showers appreciated. Sheltered powered sites on nice firm pebbled surface. Bellbirds in the tree outside our camper in the morning a major bonus. Only criticism (and it's pretty minor) is that the unlimited wifi, while welcome, would be more convenient issued in a 24 hour slot rather than having to enter another voucher number every two hours. But that doesn't detract from an enjoyable stay. We will definitely go back another time.
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2.0/5
I think the place has great potential due to its location, but is not maintained anymore or at a very low standard.
Not sure when the kitchen and bathrooms were last cleaned (though it didn’t look very filthy, just an overall impression - bins not emptied and dirt on the floor). Grass not mowed for a long time, power poles broken, etc. Camped here for one night with my family of four. There is also a restaurant, but we didn’t dare to try because of all the bad reviews (Google).
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0.5/5
Oh my goodness, where to start?
Overpriced, falsely advertised, disgusting lack of cleanliness...
Location five stars! Rooms zero. Service zero, as there was none.
We paid to stay two nights as the website has it as the Place To Stay... so much to do!! As a result we planned to be here to hang out for a couple of days, like a little stop and rest. However, there was no-one here. The cafe was shut (even though the website ensured us they were open though winter from 8am, and the signs on the road said OPEN OPEN OPEN), there was no pizza starting from 3pm, again, website totally misleading, and the young Indian lady we managed to find after an hour of waiting told us to go back in because "he will be back in a few minutes so you can order pizza", there was DEFINITELY no happy hour starting at 4.30, although we were tempted to start our own. The outdoor tables had mould growing in rings on them. I say HAD because I couldn't cope with it and cleaned them all.
We paid for a powered site, and for that there was a "Guest Lounge." The guest lounge not only a broken pane of glass, but half of it was missing and there was rain soaking the curtains and carpet. So where do visitors hang out? Certainly not at the bar and cafe, that was shut. The waste bin in the kitchen had not been emptied for a very long time, ditto the bathroom.
We definitely didn't stay the two nights. We drove out the next morning to find food and somewhere better to stay. We found some other awesome places in the Catlins, cheaper and with friendly faces to check us in.
I need to add that the one guy we met - the manager - is doing his best in an untennable position. He was sent in to placate us when we complained by phone about there being no one here, no food, no coffee, no service. He is the only person working and the owners are not employing anyone on his days off. (His days off being the two days we had booked, hence no service and nothing open. They are simply not employing enough people.
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3.0/5
Adequate facilities but watch happy hour as only a few things in it.
Bought a small coke & a pint of beer was $20.!! Dump station $10 so empty before you arrive. Boasts a restaurant but it’s pizza or pizza. Overall an expensive place to stay.
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3.5/5
10 Sterne für die netten Menschen, die diesen Platz betreiben.
Alle Einrichtungen sind sauber. Die Plätze für den campervan ausreichend große.
Das Restaurant ist klasse. Es hat uns einen verregneten Abend verschönert. Haben wir etwas vermisst? Nein. Wer kalt duschen möchte, kommt hier nicht auf seine Gunsten.
Der Preis ist höher als bei vergleichbar ausgestatteten Plätzen. Richtig.
Optimierbar. Ablagen in den Waschräumen und Waschmaschinen, die warm waschen.
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1.0/5
I called a day in addvance for the price and when came they added 20$for no reason.the owner was very unfriendly.
No sope in the sower bilding or any sink, the heat of the water was fixed, with no option to adjust. The park lot was very muddy. The water in the kitchen was not for drinking(brown and bad taset). No play ground for children.the kitchen minimalistic,old,hard to cook. A very disappointing campground.
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4.5/5
Great location, good facilities, super friendly owners and staff, and not that expansive (35 $ for a single person on a non-powered site).
Highly recommendable.
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2.0/5
Over rated and over priced camping ground.
Very rude owner. Facilities outdated with little privacy. Lights go out after a few minutes in shower or toilet. Caravan sites very small.
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3.0/5
Well maintained, nice shower block didn't view kitchen or TV room.
Felt was very pricey for 2 adults and 2 kids on a powered site at $89 per night, far more than we have ever paid. But super friendly staff and gave us a map and showed us local attractions which were mostly all free
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2.5/5
We stayed here because of its location close to McLean falls and Cathedral Caves.
Out of the 4 campgrounds we’ve stayed at so far it is my least favourite. The strange lights going off when your on the loo is not great. The kitchen was adequate but only 1 sink. The lounge had a TV but we couldn’t get it to work so gave up after 10 minutes. Unfortunately the weather was very cold, windy and rainy and the camp surface is a muddy shell so coming in and out of our camper became very muddy and made a big mess of our step and shoes. Also there was no where obvious for the kids to play. It was raining anyway and maybe if it was sunny we could have explored more and found somewhere. It was OK but very expensive compared to other better campgrounds around the South Island. For family of 5 with a powered site it was $25.00 more expensive than in Invercargill.
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3.5/5
Nice tidy campsite, but at $55/ night we felt was a bit steep.
The powered campsite resembled more like a carpark. However it is close to the McLean Falls and Cathedral caves, staff were friendly.
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4.5/5
Cute wee spot in the Bush.
They have a bar and restaurant onsite- we went down for happy hour and had chips, the food coming out looks amazing though! We got a powered site, close to facilities, good showers and clean toilets. The kitchen is good, it is a wee bit small and got very crowded at breakfast and dinner times. Overall a nice place to stay and if you do you must nip up the hill and check out the cathedral caves!
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3.5/5
Average bathrooms and showers.
Good communal kitchen with utensils. A bit pricey ($46 for 2 ppl powered site)
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1.5/5
Very disappointed with this site.
Firstly it was the most expensive and had the worst facilities. The DOC facilities we had already used at earlier sites in the South were much better than these. To have a light go off while you are sitting on the toilet or worse in the shower because its on a sensor was stupid. The facilities were run down. We got the impression they were spending all there energy's on the cafe, which we found to be overpriced but nice.
We would not choose to stay here again.
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4.5/5
I really don’t understand the previous negative reviews of this place.
We booked for a tent site but decided to upgrade to a hut on account of previous sleepless nights and some weather coming in. The staff were friendly and accommodating, the facilities were great and the restaurant served brilliant food. I noticed someone previously complained that the kitchen closed too early. First, I think it’s entirely fair to close the kitchen at a designated time particularly if few people want food, however, when we stayed they kept the kitchen open for a number of latecomers (us included).
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2.5/5
Far from everything, bad internet, no entertainment for the kids, no marked sites which I really don't like, need to arrive between 3 and 5 - why?