Waitomo Big Bird Retreat

Lovely place near the Waitomo Caves My family stayed here for two nights. This location is just around the corner from the caves, but is secluded. An excellent place to stay to avoid the crowds. The hostess responds fairly quickly to questions. I highly recommend going on the farm tour if you can - the tour is usually included for people staying at one of the hostess's properties, and includes the opportunity to meet sheep, cows, goats, alpacas, emus, and ostriches. It was very fun! I also highly recommend turning off all the lights and heading out on the porch late at night if you can; the location is very far away from light pollution, which means that you can see many more stars than most people are typically able to.There weren't really any downsides to our stay, although there are a few things to be aware of. First, the driveway is very steep and a bit tight, so be careful when driving up. Second, the house is a bit older, so if you can't stand bugs or you need recently renovated appliances, I would find somewhere else to stay (but if you don't mind those things, the house is very lovely!). Third, the house would probably be very difficult, if not impossible, to access for wheelchair users.All in all, I highly recommend this location for visitors!

Great Grandma's house in rural NZ Our family stayed here while we visited the Waitomo Caves and then on our way to Hobbiton. It was clean, had everything we needed for a comfortable family adventure and it's centrally located to the attractions. We happened to bring some dim color changing lights, which came in handy so we could keep the windows open at night without attracting bugs inside the house. The king sized bed was very firm, but we found some mattress pads in the closet to give it some cushion. The petting farm tour added a delightful bonus to our vacation. Our host had timely communication and was very accomodating. I would gladly stay here again.

Unpleasant experience overall We booked this place for a day however it fell way below expectations. While the place is spacious with three bedrooms, the interiors were in much need of a renovation. The linen was dusty and unclean for all beds. The main issue was the amount of pests in the house - it was full of spiders, webs and cockroaches everywhere - it’s normal to expect that in summer with a yard however we found spiders on the beds and around them. The place would benefit from a pest control clean.