We were both really looking forward to our trip up the river, an overnight stay in the lodge and then the Bridge to Nowhere trip the following day.

"Sad end to a our planned Christmas treat."

Right from the start we have had problems with this company, problems getting an initial response, eventually contacted GrabOne for help, problems getting them to confirm the date and the time. Each time we rang they had the booking details wrong; they also did not ring us back as they promised. Finally today they changed the meeting time for the boat to the lodge which we cannot manage; It takes 5 hours for us to reach Pipiriki. It wasn't until yesterday that we learned that there is no Pipiriki Cafe, no phone, no cell phone reception so if the boat which takes customers to the lodge is delayed we would be stuck. Its quite a remote spot apparently. We were told that we could leave our car with someone near the leaving point for $10 a day. The boat trip price through GrabOne was $99 each, the lodge for dinner bed and breakfast was $145 each. Previous reviewers have commented that this is a bit steep for very basic amenities. Our GrabOne voucher expires on January 19 so we will not be able to use it and we have lost, what is to us quite a lot of money. We both found the phone calls difficult, vital information was not made available and the confusion over the booking made us feel nervous. We got the feeling that they were not prepared to change any part of their schedule - despite being told that we were the only people booked into the lodge that night. In the final phone call the girl told us that it costs them $300 to send a boat to collect customers; and this was why they would not be prepared to changed their revised schedule.... It was all very upsetting and disappointing. I understand that there are 2 companies operating on the river perhaps the other one is worth investigating

Reviewed over 9 years ago