Wharariki Holiday Park Ltd — Attraction in South Island

Hi, while i did not stay at Wharariki Holiday Park campsite i feel obliged to share the experience i had with one of the owners. This occurred today Thursday 22nd nov 2018.

I was traveling with my 70 yo father and 72 yo uncle and had walked to Wharariki beach which was completely amazing. We were so impressed we decided to head to cape farewell via the hill top route which is not a well sign posted track. After getting there we couldn't find a proper track to get back to our car so decided to follow the farm fence line back. We were a bit lost. Finally after about an hour we were relieved to end up at the rear of the Wharariki campsite. This was adjacent to the main road where our car was parked. We had crossed the stream only to be confronted by a heavily tattooed guy with a beer in hand that was clearly drunk and very agressive. He asked if we were staying at the campsite and i explained that we were not but that we had been lost and wished to get back to our car. He told us to f### off back up the hill and that the campsite was private property and for paying guests only. He was basically looking for a fight.

Anyway we walked back to the beach not wanting an altercation which took us another 1.5 hrs. I stopped at the campsite office on our way out to explain what had happened. They did not apologise but said they knew who it was and would sort it out.

I am a kiwi and i was shocked at the thought that this experience could occur to an international visitor. This is not what New Zealand is or what kiwis are about.

I will let you make the decision whether to stay here or not. As i said we were fortunate enough not to have stayed there.

Hope you enjoy New...

Everything was good but the attitude of th receptionist had caused such low rating from us as we were "welcomed" by the rude receptionist on the arrival. I read some reviews before writing this but it seems like lots people have the same experience with me. I'm hoping that this will get to the owner of holiday park, seriously you have an amazing location, facility, love reading your stories and the previous owners before you, but please take action to train your staffs/wwoofers to upskill their customer service. What happened was I wrote more details on the registration book than she wanted, but I did check with her and confirmed that's that much of details she's after. She was not happy when she saw what I wrote and was definitely not hiding her unhappiness but to be honest, it was a very tiny situation that doesn't need to be upset about, let alone that it was her miscommunication that caused that. I just let it go as we're all tired and wanted to settle down. But then we observed her yelling at three different groups of people in the period of two hours in that night. Nobody deserved to be greeted that way after driving all the way to the beautiful place with lots of excitement, and got this kind of service, what a shame.

Would recommend the other holiday park (Farewell Gardens) just before the dirt road, beautiful people and...

Initially we were charmed by the natural beauty of this spot. At 3am we awoke to a rat in our van, and tried to remove it for hours. We checked at the office for an emergency number, in the off-chance that we could get a cabin for the night. No one was around, as expected. Not knowing if it had left the van or not, we resorted to going into the common area to sit on the couch until the sun rose. As soon as we saw the owner at 7am, my partner let him know what had happened, as to explain our presence on the cameras at the office and in the common room in the middle of the night. He responded VERY bluntly and rudely "sleeping on the couch is inapropriate". We felt his mean demenor and approach to us (friendly, polite, and exhausted) paying guests was shockingly cold, unempathetic and highly unprofessional. Especially given that we sat upright and allowed our eyes to close for 1 hour when no one was around before sunrise. We were in a dire situation. His response and macho attitude made us really regret giving him our hard earned money. Also, the toilets are glorified outhouses, and the facilities were subpar at best for the price. My recommendation would be to do the beautiful hikes in the day, and chose another business to support for your...