Little River Campground and Manaia Native Habitat — Hotel in Banks Peninsula Community

The positives of this campground: the best showers of any campground I’ve ever been to scenic surrounds with river burbling in the background and cosy facilities excellent place to bring kids and allow them to free range for the day while you relax

Drawbacks: we had booked a site in August for NYE/NYD. However, when we arrived, we found that there was barely room for us on our site as the manager had decided to cram as many people in as humanly possible. This meant that our neighbours, who arrived earlier, had managed to get in and get out their awnings. All we had space for was backing in; our door opened into the neighbour’s awning. The manager said when we arrived that he’d had hoped we would have a small van. Not really helpful. The swimming hole was actually a paddling space. Only knee deep, so it was rather a stretch to call it this. There was no dumping station and all water had to be boiled. We hadn’t known this in advance, otherwise we would have filled and emptied before arriving.

This was a place which I had been super excited about going to. I feel that the experience we had probably wasn’t typical, but it was our experience nonetheless. Disappointing.

EDITED TO ADD: After a rather unhelpful and rude reply from the owner (something he is apparently on a bit of a roll with recently if you check the last three reviews), I wanted to clarify a few points:

we booked for TWO nights, not one. you run a business, Marcus. If you don’t want to take our booking, then don’t. We booked in August, which was plenty of time in advance. You’re not “helping us out” as we have a self contained vehicle that we could have driven to literally any other campground in the area. when you told Dan your sites were snug, Dan accepted because we had looked at the map of the sites and they seemed reasonably spaced, if a little smaller than some. Our issue was that we didn’t get A site, we had about half of one of your site’s worth of space as everyone was so packed in. I looked at the map while I was there. I have attached the reality of what we thought we were getting vs what was there with both maps and photos.

When you said you couldn’t guarantee a specific site, as we had requested one in particular, we didn’t realise that this meant you couldn’t guarantee a whole site. I did read the information. It just wasn’t fairly representative of what you provided.

What’s unbelievable, actually, is your vitriolic reply. It’s a poor showing and may discourage people from going to stay at Little River. I understand that running a campsite is hard, full on work, but there is no need to be nasty about it. You’ll notice that I did my best to couch the original view in positive terms, even though we felt a...

What a magical place. Marcus, the manager, has a relaxed attitude and keeps a low profile. we stayed over the New years period, so the camp was quite full. I wish my kids were still young enough to have accompanied us. There is a large bush area to the back of the property, which has a bubbling stream running through it, including a large population of resident eels that seem very tame. If you subscribe to the safety helmet wearing handbrake applying helicopter parenting style, then this isn't your spot. It was a joy to see tribes of hafe wild kids scampering around playing with the eels and swimming in the river. Marcus also puts on a waterside in the afternoons, which looks to be lots of fun. We stayed in the container of contentment, everything you need, including ac, which was very nice as it's a real sun trap. There is also a nighty fire pit, marshmallow roasting event, which unfortunately we missed, but it would be a great way to meet more of the campers. Little River is geared toward the alternative crowd and wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, if you are a parent who wishes to fill your children's memory's with lifetime magical holladay experiences or just sitting buy the stream with a book listening to the birds and the wild kids in the bush then this is a great spot. If you enjoy all the modcons, have an 80-foot campervan with three ensuits and a 100-inch flat screen and like lots of new stuff, or work for Osha, stay away. I wasn't a fan of the composting toilets, but this was made clear to us on the website before we even booked. And at the end of the day wasn't that big of a deal. I would...

Went to book this campsite, rang up and the answer machine said they had spaces, left a message to say we had intentions on coming, Booked online which also said they had spaces. Heard nothing within 24 hours, only when ringing up the morning of going he said he 'might' be able to fit us in as they are very busy.

When we questioned why both the website and answering machine had spaces, and why no one came back to me his response was 'I can't be expected to check my emails every 10 minutes'.

Lucky we are local and have a place to stay but if you are travelling, ensure you speak to someone before making plans to stay here.

Disappointed as was looking forward to camping, now we have to try find another camp site the morning we plan to do it, on one of the busiest weekends of the year.

In reply to your reply, we booked this a few days before hand when both your website and voice mail said you had space. We also left two voice mail messages and emailed you, maybe a carrier pigeon will work next time?

You have asked to me to remove this post, when you attitude on the reply was just like on the phone when we eventually got hold of you, unapologetic and essentially blaming us for what was your mess up. A simple we apologise for the confusion etc etc would have sufficed, its called customer service, or simply good manners for...