ben carroll
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Rotorua ▷
Whakarewarewa The Living Maori Village
We enjoyed the authentic feel.
History and culture focussed on this village provided by guide who lives in the village. It was interesting to see how their geothermal environment is used in everyday life - cooking, bathing in outdoor baths, corn directly from a superhot mineral pool. The view of the Pohutu geyser fabulous. The cultural performance was very good but would have liked more on customs around the opening challenge. There is also a track around part of the village that takes you to thermal area which was very interesting. Very good value.
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Reporoa ▷
Orakei Korako Geyserland Resort
This is a review of the overnight parking for self-contained campervans if a ticket for the thermal area is purchased.
As an overnight camping spot It doesn't get better than this. The views across the lake to the terraces were stunning. At times the water is warm enough and not too hot for bathing. We were the only van camped overnight so super quiet. The staff were very nice. We arrived at about 3:30pm and planned to visit the thermal area the next day. (boat ride across the lake). They asked if we wanted to see the thermal area now and still go the next day. We took them up on the offer. They have nice toilets with sinks that they offered to keep open all night for us. They even have free internet which was very fast - no telephone reception though. I strongly recommend camping and the thermal area itself is one of the best
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North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Hutt Valley ▷
Wellington TOP 10 Holiday Park
We enjoyed the authentic feel.
History and culture focussed on this village provided by guide who lives in the village. It was interesting to see how their geothermal environment is used in everyday life - cooking, bathing in outdoor baths, corn directly from a superhot mineral pool. The view of the Pohutu geyser fabulous. The cultural performance was very good but would have liked more on customs around the opening challenge. There is also a track around part of the village the takes you to thermal area which was very interesting. Very good value.
Location is very good and layout of campground good. I had many suggestions that I gave to staff that weren't well received. I also wrote to management saying that if these measures had been in place, I'd given a 10/10 rating . Recycling bins should be near kitchen or amenity area, not in a field which I could not find, even with the map. This would encourage people to recycle, not put everything in the garbage. 2. The bathrooms were always dirty. Part of this is because campers don't clean counters etc after using. I suggest you have cloths, preferably at each sink, with a note asking customers to please clean counter so that bathroom stays clean(they had one face towel in men's bathroom with no note). On one occasion when I was at the sink, I witnessed 4 adults each wash their hands and then dry them with this towel. The towel makes people think that it is for drying their hands. When I made this suggestion to a girl at reception she told me that there are no signs because management believes people will use common sense and When I told her of witnessing many using the towel (and dirty it was) she said that they are there for washing hands. This I couldn't believe. How unhygienic to use a towel that everyone else is using. I added that if the towel is for drying the hands, what should I use to clean countertop after I use it?? I added that I was in the bathroom when a staff member used the towel to wipe down the count
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North Island ▷ Bay of Plenty ▷ Tauranga ▷
Tulip Campers
We have only good things to say about Tulip Campers and Alex (Xander).
The campervan we had for our 2 months in NZ, their 2014 2-berth Elite Deluxe, was perfect for our needs (2 people). We had only 2 very minor problems (stone chip, GPS cable), both of which were covered by Tulip. I say this only to illustrate the excellent service we had from Tulip from the time we contacted them a few months before our trip until the end of our trip. I liked the personal service we had with this small family business. Along our journey in this amazingly beautiful and friendly country we met a few people having problems with campervans from a couple of the larger companies who were not satisfied with the service received when they had problems.
The rental cost for our campervan was very reasonable and included pick-up, drop off and first and last night in B&B (house on the Tulip grounds). We especially appreciated the first night after a long and tiring trip to NZ.
I would highly recommend this company.