Golden Bay Visitor Centre — Attraction in Tasman

Had a bit of a shocking one here. Popped in to grab a couple of maps and a colouring book for our 4yo, but took 20 mins. Two staff on, one very friendly but was busy helping someone with something complicated when we arrived.

The other staff member 'Sacha' was just finishing with someone, talking on the shop floor, so we queued nearby and looked at the displays. A moment later, she turned around without looking and nearly knocked our daughter over, after which she said to her 'you need to move out of my way' in a quite abrupt way (despite the fact she could have gone another way herself and wasn't watching where she was going). A real eye rolling way to treat a little child in a tourist information centre!

After this she finished up with her existing customer, but then chased down the road after the poor person accusing them of stealing her pen. After an exhaustive search (5 mins+), which ultimately involved everyone in the room, the pen was found behind her keyboard.

Once this drama was finished she finally turned to my wife and asked 'what do you want'. When presented with this stuff we wanted to buy she said, 'Oh I'm not doing purchases, you need to go to my colleague' (it was unclear why the was). After a few minutes while we waited for her colleague, she called my wife back saying she could in fact help, but then sent her off again when she asked to pay by card

When the colleague was done and able to help she was by contrast to Sacha a lovely person and very quick and efficient, so overall a two star experience (and very out of character for the lovely folks we have met everywhere else in...

I visited this place twice on separate days. The first visit I was greeted by two very friendly staff members who shared a lot of information about local attractions in the area. This was a very pleasant experience, and I said I would return in the coming days to purchase some souvenirs. The second visit was less welcoming, this time from a different staff member from the first visit. I felt she was slightly rude and seemed to be inconvenienced by my presences. Not sure if she was having a bad day or didn't enjoy her role working there. If it wasn't for the second experience I would have given a 5...

We went to the i-site Takaka after lunch break and asked for a day hike. The lady marked three spots an a map. One was 0.5 h and the other two 2 h. I asked again for a day hike for about 6 h. She marked another spot on the map. No information about the track or what to see or anything. Thats was it. The talk was over after 3 min. Seemed that the lady had some private stuff to do rather than give us some information. You don't have to visit the i-site for that. A robot could do it this way.

The day before we had a different experience at an DOC encounter. That was professional and...