Golden Bay Holiday Park — Hotel in South Island

I liked it, our stay. They looked after us and nothing was a problem because we did have a few requests, but they sorted us, and gave us options. A very real kiwi experience. My dad would've been mates with these people...|||| We were a group of 3 instructors and 14 teenagers exploring Golden Bay and parts of the West Coast (Wharariki) and based ourselves at the holiday park.||||Good cooking facilities for a group our size. Lots of hot water/showers and clean ablution blocks.||Beachside tent spaces and the sound of the waves breaking drowned out the incessant teenage jabbering. ||||Highlights||1. Colony of Blue Peguin burrows along the treeline. A privilege to be so close to nature.||2. The night sky. The Milky Way, shooting stars...wow!||3. Sunrises. Watch the sun climb up out of the ocean and into the Heavens.||4. A wee fire on the beach for marshmallows and story time. Permission first from the office as safety protocols apply.||5. Good base location for exploring and connecting to the region.||6. Easy, yet professional hosts.||||...so good in fact the following week we took a whole nother group of teens back to do it all again. ||The Holiday Park upgraded this next group into cabins cause the weather was a bit naff. Cabins! Teens thought it was Christmas, all 15 of them. Monitored and supervised, but the cabins had bunks and beds, linen, pillows, heating and very very clean.||||Recommendations||A. The hosts/managers are good at what they do. Host||B. I cant say enough about the location.||C. Local community, local culture.||||...and once you've settled in, go discover your own piece of paradise.||||||Well done the Golden Bay Holiday Park.||See you again soon||Mike, Linda and Kegan ||for Whenua...

Absolutely appalling experience at this campsite.

Myself and my friends who are young adults booked to stay for one night and as soon as we got to the office we were made to feel very unwelcome and were treated with disrespect and rudeness. The camp owner who met us at the office assumed that we were going to cause trouble and party when we just wanted to support their campsite and enjoy the golden bay on our holiday along with everyone else staying here. The staff were constantly threatening to kick us out before we even got to our campsite.

We then got yelled at by our neighbouring campers for driving too fast when understandably we were going 15kph in a 5kph zone but still at a very controllable and safe speed with no one around us and there were several other cars going this speed, It just seemed like everyone saw us and decided that we weren’t fit for their family friendly holiday.

I wouldn’t wish this feeling on anyone else which is such a shame because the campsite is such a beautiful spot.

Overall do not stay here if you’re not a self righteous entitled camper and you’re looking for a friendly campsite to...

Premises are clean and newly painted it seems. 3 showers for each gender isn’t enough. Also at c/D block only 2 showers at each bathroom worked causing queues and a bit of friction at the ladies’. The beach has lots of stones from the river so most people end up going to nearby beaches (we saw many of our “neighbours” at the beaches we visited. Of note, the owner (Donna) could do with a smile. I came to the reception to buy ice creams a few times, greeted her every time by first name and with a friendly tone to which I received every time a dry/cold “hi…”. It is a family camping ground. I think the owner operator should be friendlier (like we have seen at many other grounds). The set up itself is nice and the grounds well maintained. We saw nil enforcing of the rules. No masks worn, the fridge in the common area smelled like it had a dead cat inside for days. People were talking/laughing past 10pm when most people/families already were sleeping. The little shop has plenty of shelf space and missing basic items like sun block and mosquito repellent (which is very much needed at this...