lavonc
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Hokitika ▷
Lake Mahinapua Campsite
5.0/5
GREAT and beautiful place to stop for the night and very affordable.
Right on a lake with plenty of room. Make sure and print out the DOC pamphlet before you go -- it has all the DOC sites by north/south islands. A large document to print BUT well worth it.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/publications/parks-and-recreation/places-to-stay/campsites-drive-in/conservation-campsites-south-island/
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
Happy Campers
1.5/5
The person checking us in told us the fresh water outlet was the grey water outlet (we have an RV in the US and the fresh water looks exactly like the grey) so we let all our fresh water out without realizing
it until we were out on the road WITHOUT water. Our battery died when we were at Lake Gunn and they didn't provide us with jumper cables. They also didn't explain a lot about the RV (there is an extra battery under the passenger sheet which got tripped when the battery died so we lost all our food, etc). The refrigerator door kept popping open and all the food would fall out as we were driving. I kept a list of things and they almost acted annoyed that I would share it with them when we turned it in. Also, none of the gauges worked so we couldn't tell how empty or full our water tanks were -- their excuse when we picked it up was "you shouldn't rely on them anyway". One other thing, our tires were VERY low and we returned for them to check them. After waiting for over 15 minutes (and let me tell you, we were very anxious to get out on the road), my boyfriend walked around to the back and was horrified to see how disorganized and filthy their shop was. And no one was around -- in the middle of the day. So he started walking around, opening doors and found everyone sitting at a table shooting the breaze. He said, "Someone needs to check our tires we have been waiting for 15 minutes" and they looked @ him like he had three heads. Then one guys said, "oh, i must of checked the wrong tires". Really? We were the only customers there so whose tires was he checking?
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Cron street ▷
Franz Josef Glacier Guides
1.5/5
Franz Jozef is good for a quick stop but not a lot to see.
It is a bit if a walk in so if it is raining you may want to skip it. The glacier has melted severly so don't expect a lot.
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South Island ▷ Fiordland ▷ Te Anau ▷
Lake Gunn Camping Ground
4.5/5
Beautiful lake.
I agree with the other views that it gets crowded (they currently close the road right just north of this campground at night so it is the closest camping to Milford) but what is really interesting is that there are no designated sites (which is common with DOC campgrounds). So people just come in and stop their vehicles where convenient for them. Other campers were very friendly and quiet (some books warn about people driving in here at all hours of the night which would be loud because it is so small, plus if you pulled in late at night and it was full it may be hard to turn around). There are low-hanging trees so watch out if you have a motorhome.
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South Island ▷ Kaikoura Region ▷ Kaikoura ▷
Ohau Stream Walkway and Waterfall
4.5/5
Definitely worth the 5 minutes walk.
A pup came right up to me like a puppy (without any encouragement). Take your video camera and capture them frolicking under the waterfall. Nice place to park on the ocean as well.
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South Island ▷ Kaikoura Region ▷ Kaikoura ▷
Whale Watch Kaikoura
0.5/5
No whales, rough seas, not worth it.
We were the 2nd boat out and they didn't admit they hadn't seen any whales on the previous boat. It was VERY rough, everyone got sick and we didn't see one whale. Not worth it in my opinion but then we live near the ocean and see whales all the time so I may be too critical (but my friends from England felt the same way).
Kia Ora, we appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us. We are sorry to hear that your time with us did not meet up to your expectations, when dealing with nature I am sure you can appreciate that we are at their discretion. On all our tours we inform passengers at check in of the tour status and am sorry if this was not presented to you at the time. We have an average sight rate of 95% and if we do not sight a whale we do refund our customers 80% of their fare back. Again sorry your time with us was not enjoyable, we do hope however that the rest of your time in NZ was successful with many lasting memories.