Tui Base Camp

Was priced very cheap - room clean but very dated , camp kitchen needed a good scrubbing, broken amenities and no washing machine working - BUT hospitality was great and restaurant attached gave us one of the nicest and cheapest meals we had - took some famous sausages to cook away with us. We were in hostel so was cheapest accommodation they had - 4 people room was only $100

Stopped for morning tea (after finding a teapot that we need desperately at the local op shop - brilliant people there). Extremely friendly and chatty staff. Ordered a tea and decided to try a savoury scone as well. Tea was good - but the scone was excellent - topped my personal list of scones had throughout the country - congratulations Shirley - great scone - if I'm ever back that way I'll order a dozen to take back home. Excellent stop and we highly recommend

This was a good, convenient, motel to stay at the night before and after the Hump Ridge Track. I had a spacious two bedroom apartment. The bed was comfortable and I slept well. It was reasonably clean, while acknowledging that a lot of guests are trampers walking the Hump Ridge Track with hiking boots, equipment and attendant mud which has to be constantly kept clean. Tui Base Camp has a reasonable restaurant. However, as in many places in New Zealand the food is simply from packets or cans and sold at high markup. Tasty and filling, but not gourmet or reflective of thoughtful cuisine. I'm sure my corn and bacon chowder was simply from a can. Chips were no doubt frozen from a packet. The only item which was truly delicious was the steak (I'm on a minimal meat diet and only have a steak two or three times a year, so this was quite a treat). The breakfast was excellent, really tasty and abundant. As this is rural New Zealand everything comes with butter which I don't usually eat, but actually it was really good. The waitress even got me a pint of pineapple juice from the bar which is just what I felt like the morning after finishing the Hump Ridge Track! My only concern about staying here was that the gas hob in the apartment I stayed in was extremely old, and I'm sure I could smell gas when I walked into the unit. When I tested the hob it had a lot of orange flame in the blue. Gas flames should be entirely blue, and the presence of a significant amount of orange or red flame indicates the hob needs attention, even if it's just careful cleaning. I mentioned this to the management as I was concerned about leaking gas. They didn't really seem to care. As a result I slept with my door shut and the windows open in my bedroom (I had a two bedroomed unit). This is a reasonable place to stay in Tuatapere, but I'd probably try somewhere else next time.