This place is awesome.

We stopped here in the dark mid-way in our trip down the Forgotten World Highway. We did not know what to expect. There was a sign inviting us to make ourselves at home and the owners would see us in the morning. We picked a site and plugged into the power. Wole to a beautiful, peaceful setting. Huge trees. No passing traffic. No sounds except the birds and the river. Quaint showers and toilets spotlessly clean. Invitation to help yourself to $7 frozen pizzas and pay when you leave. So hospitable. Great history display in the kitchen as well as in an old building, setting out the history of the place including the old “ghost” railway construction town. Quaint tiny cabins dotted around the site. We had to keep going but would have loved to have stayed longer. Owner was so nice in the morning. Very inexpensive $. This is an excellent spot to break up the long Forgotten World Highway journey. Don’t be put off by the drive in on the dirt road, it’s worth it. Highly recommended.

Reviewed over 5 years ago

Fantastic location right under the mountain with walking paths going straight past between the park and the beach, and lovely salt hot pools next door.

Sites are a bit tight. This park is Council run which is a little different and shows in the customer service. Some of the people with caravans were pretty selfish parking both their van and vehicle plus having a big awning out in their site - we had one big vehicle parked ~80cm from the door side of our motorhome and the staff did nothing about it. The facilities were clean, but the showers were pretty ordinary - no temperature adjustment, just a button for warm water with average spray and the button needs to be pressed every 9-15 seconds (yes I timed it because it was so ridiculous...). For the prices at this park, the shower system is really annoying and unnecessary - if you have to have the button, 40-60 seconds is reasonable, not 9. I would recommend this park for the location but beware this is not a quiet, relaxed kind of place. It’s on the edge of a high-rise accommodation precinct with restaurants, shops, cinemas, etc nearby and loads of people walking past. We enjoyed the location for something different but prefer other quieter locations in NZ and would not stay here for an extended period of time.

Reviewed over 5 years ago

Good little site right on the lake and far enough from downtown Rotorua that there is no smell (a positive which should not be under-estimated!).

We were given a site right on the water and woke up to the view as per the photo for this site. It was lovely; ducks sleeping, swans and cygnets swimming past, little jetties you can walk or sit on. Bathroom facilities were not flash but just fine for us. I read reviews saying they weren’t clean and had cobwebs. The showers, toilets, basins, floors, etc were all very clean and well presented. The ladies bathroom had very high pitched ceilings which yes did have some cobwebs but I mean who cares 3m above you, they would be very hard to keep clear all the time with many insects near the water. Our only problem was no microwave in the kitchen. The owners should address this, an easy and inexpensive fix. The lady (owner?) on Reception was a bit quirky which was cool, and the gentleman (owner?) helped out some elderly ladies near us for quite some time as they had van trouble, which I thought was lovely. Great spot. Recommended.

Reviewed over 5 years ago

Located very close to caves.

Nice, clean site and facilities. Young lady on reception was really helpful with everything including booking cave tour. The sites were quite close together and we actually had to ask to move to another site as we couldn’t fit in the original site and reach the power. Also the second site wasn’t completely flat which was weird because all the sites have been completely landscaped and gravelled. Still, would recommend.

Reviewed over 5 years ago and experienced in May 2019

If you have kidlets, then check this place out because it has the most awesome play area known to campgrounds.

The flying fox is wicked - massive, fast and central to the ground. Owners are very personable. There are nice, modern facilities, although the showers have the annoying button to push every 20 seconds, not enough hooks, and the whole cubicle is wet by the time you are finished. It is a bit out of town and not very picturesque - kind of plonked down in amongst a number of small landholds with some nearby residents looking down on the campground. It desperately needs some established trees to be planted and more attention to the landscaping on the medieval large earth mound that surrounds it. It’s a shame that this hasn’t been done already by the owners as it could be so much nicer. Still, would stay there again.

Reviewed about 6 years ago and experienced in September 2018

This place is small, but nice.

Clean showers with good pressure - kidlets particularly enjoyed the colour-changing showerhead! Right in the centre of town. Good facilities. Lady owner was lovely, friendly and helpful. A bit of noise in the morning from a truck idling in a nearby location? Not a big deal though. Recommend and would stay again.

Reviewed about 6 years ago and experienced in September 2018

This place is “the bomb”.

Absolutely the best place we stayed at on the South Island. Owner/manager was lovely and helpful, and kind to our kidlets - even gave them coins to throw into maori water spirit statue. The bathrooms were SPOTLESS - wish mine at home were that clean! They were also spacious and beautifully decorated. Owner/manager apologised because bathrooms were being used as unisex due to renos in mens. Was not a problem because of cubicle sizes. Excellent laundry. And everything is done with the environment in mind - for example, they compost the used hand towels, use this to grow vegies, and you can pick up some of their fresh produce in their little reception shop. We all loved going on a bush adventure and seeing the gloworms - stay here just for this bit! Big open playground, huge mountains all around. Spacious, pebbled parking spots. Simply brilliant. Stay here if you can.

Reviewed about 6 years ago and experienced in September 2018

This place was actually disappointing as we had been expecting more from reading reviews and their website.

It is WAY overcrowded - yes you are surrounded by some rainforest-style greenery but you will also have another van parked about 2m from you, and you will look directly into the window of cabins/apartments/whatever that are opposite and all over this over-built site. There were quite a few vans overnight even though off-peak, yet they closed at least half of their bathroom facilities meaning the remaining facilities were crowded and a bit grubby. There is also insufficient lighting and signage, so can actually get a bit lost trying to find your van after a swim at the hotpools. Not what we were expecting and for the price, would look elsewhere next-time, including just parking the van and staying in a motel room instead.

Reviewed about 6 years ago and experienced in September 2018

Stayed here with some reservations after reading reviews.

Did not cross paths with a grumpy owner (employee receptionist was lovely and very helpful), however could understand what other reviewers might have experienced. There are signs everywhere, many of them SHOUTING AT YOU IN CAPS. Note to owner - this is not necessary and achieves nothing. People who are going to ignore the rules will do so no matter what size font you use... The facilities in the aircraft hanger (very novel!) where great, the site was nice, and the view of the surrounding mountains excellent. Kidlets had fun in the little playground. Would stay there again.

Reviewed about 6 years ago and experienced in September 2018