AVOID!!!

We picked this park for our last night in NZ because it looked and sounded so good in the various publications and we wanted to give our boys a treat for our last night. After driving 20-odd km up the winding road, we arrived at Waingaro Hot Springs Caravan Park and checked in. We were in a campervan and the site we were directed to was not so much a site, rather the end of the road.

We looked around at the facilities and couldn't believe how terriby run down everything was compared to the photos and descriptions. The kiddie pool was empty of water, the bumper boat pool water was green and the boats themselves looked like you wouldn't trust them to keep you afloat. The "new games room" wasn't new at all, instead it was tiny with a very old and weathered pool table and table tennis table, neither of which had the required equipment to actually attempt playing a game on their warped surfaces. The children's playground was small, tired and looked unsafe. The amenites were old and dirty. There was one lonely sheep and birds in small cages.

We felt terrible about the place and about having to drive back down the winding road in the fading light, but there was no way we were going to actually stay there for the night. So after debating the debilitated park with the frustrating owner, he finally agreed to give us our money back and we left to find a much nicer place in Huntly for less than half the price. I gave the park a 1 rating rather than a 0 because the 2 operating thermal pools actually felt warm (one rare truth from the advertising!), and the slides looked to be in ok condition, although were turned off and you needed to pay extra to use them and the bumper boats.

Reviewed almost 12 years ago