Waitomo Big Bird Retreat

The house was an older style with older style furnishings but this suited our group fine. 2 toilets and showers which was good for our group of 9. Beds were comfortable, including the sofa bed. Lovely outlook from the deck. Conveniently located near the Waitomo caves, shop etc. The only slight downside for us was the fact that the barbecue didn’t work.

The owner is lovely but this property is very basic for the amount that is charged

Our hosts were wonderful! The location was PERFECT for the glow worm caves as well as local hikes to beautiful sights.

Very helpful and accommodating host. Fresh bread, ham, and eggs was there when we arrived. We enjoyed the big bird tour, and very peaceful surroundings. Thanks!

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 spot, very local to all we wanted to do. Homemade bread, bacon & eggs were a enjoyable extra. Only problem was no lighting in the garage and the gas bottle for the bbq was empty, meaning a quick change of dinner plans.

This was a perfect location for our group to stay in and use as a base for our stay in the region. Loved the big living area and the quiet at night. Two small quibbles: the email giving us the pin code for entry went unnoticed into our junk folder, and we ate almost all the food left for our breakfast on the first morning, not realising it was meant to last two mornings.

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.

If I could have scored overall lower than one I would have. Issues as below. 1. Security - front ranch slider cannot be latched closed. 2. Outside lighting does not work - not ideal when arriving in the dark. Garage lights do not work. 3. Safety - the deck handrail is about to fail, the deck bounces badly. 4. Cleanliness - food scraps under the microwave had not been cleaned. 5. Furniture - these appear to be off casts of tired furniture and mostly broken. Armrests are tacky and stick to your arms. 6. Insects infestations - MASSIVE cockroaches with heaps of babies, these even got into our luggage overnight - YUCK. We even had a live spider crawling on the freshly baked bread. 7. Price - for the high price we paid per night the standards MUST BE HIGHER!. We were that shocked by the state of this property that we left one night early and found accomodation elsewhere. I think a fair rate for this property would be a low budget per night - not what we were charged. Avoid at all costs. Not a good place to stay.

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.

Lovely host, great welcome and ideal location for all our requirements during golf tournament . easy directions and instructions.Ann is an awesome lady to work with, would recommend.

I booked this for our service techs, they seemed happy with their stay. Should have read the listing property however as did not realise linen was an extra charge, never struck this before but generally I use another accom site, need to check more closely, my error.