Tame Wallabies EnkleDooVery Korna — Attraction in South Island

This is the second time I’ve been here. We enjoyed the first time and wanted to bring a friend from the states to see the wallabies. When we arrived, there were two signs in the car park. One says check in at reception, the other says ring the bell loudly 7-8 times so it can be heard. We went to reception first, saw no one, and my partner yelled “is anyone here” a couple of times. No response. Walked back to the bell, rang it. An older lady appears at reception, yelling at me at the top of her lungs “Did you read the sign?” We went back over there and said yes. She pointed at a sign on the ground that said she is on crutches, give her some time. None of the 5 people that were checking in saw this sign. Seems odd to expect people to see a sign on the ground amidst the clutter of items. She continued to yell at me for several minutes about reading the signs. She was at a 10/10. This was full-on anger. I was appalled. Clearly there was no arguing with her, she was already elevated, so I didn’t. Interesting that she still knew it was me that rang the bell, even though we had to walk from reception back to the other side of the car park to do it. I find this suspicious. If my friend, who had never been there, hadn’t really wanted to see the wallabies I would have insisted we leave. The lady then proceeded to talk down and patronise the two Taiwanese people who were there, telling my partner later that “they don’t always understand English”. It was clear that these two individuals had understood every word she said. It was cringe watching her talk to these poor folks. The lady tried to make small talk later, as if nothing had happened. I ignored this of course; her behaviour was absolutely unacceptable. To call her rude and unprofessional would be a vast understatement. If she thinks she’s playing the “cute cranky old lady” bit, she is sorely mistaken. Unfortunately, my advice is to avoid this place at all costs and that’s sad because seeing the wallabies should be a fun experience. It was not, it was completely ruined for me and I will never return until she is not running the...

Thursday 24 July 2014, My daughter Brit Rodriguez was on tour traveling the South Island all the way from Hollywood, CA. Our event manager Hugh McCafferty told her about a wallaby rescue that would be on the way to her last show in Dunedin. Hugh drove Brit and myself (Colleen (Momager)) to EnkleDooVery Korna. It was the best experience!! We pulled up to giant cockatoos in the trees in front of the house. There were peacocks in all their splendor walking around the grounds. The host Gwen Dempster-Schouten greeted us with much excitement and after putting on our gum boots (provided by Gwen) we were given instruction and information about her wallabies. They are all rescues, over 60 of them were there when we went. Gwen knows all of their names, ages, and personalities. She is amazing in her own right. We were each given a bag of food with our instructions and proceeded through several very large pens. She has grouped the wallabies for various reasons and again she knows her stuff. The wallabies fluff their chests and tummies with their front paws to "make themselves pretty" and to let you know they would like some food from your bag. They are small, but stocky. They have very large claws, but they hold your hand with the lightest touch. It is almost impossible to describe how gentle they are. There were 3 of us feeding them and there were plenty of hungry guys for all of us to have our own personal touching experience. You can go as slow or fast as you want through the enclosures. You must go here and I can promise you that you will be forever grateful you did. Brit has thought about moving to New Zealand for many reasons after the tour, but at the top of the list was to go back to...

We were welcomed by the old lady, but she extremely rude. My son has long hair and she told me I had to cut it because he looks like a girl. It was not even an opinion anymore as she went on and on about it. She told me kids at school wouldn't accept him and therefore he wouldn't be successful in life. I'm too confident to even be bothered by that and so is my son. Plus we're from an open minded country where kids wouldn't care less how long your hair is. Also, we're not old fashion and don't want to stimulate typical gender things. So, I got annoyed by the fact she didn't stop. I had already paid, otherwise I would have turned around on the spot.

Feeding the wallabies was fun and they come really close. But it's quite expensive. Wouldn't recommend, mostly because of the hateful, rude and disrespectful comments of the lady.

I can imagine that if your haircut is 'normal', she might...