The Family — Restaurant in North Island

We stayed in at Hot Water Brewery in our Caravan, Jan 2020 and LOVED our holiday! The front desk staff were not only helpful but friendly and lots of fun. They were quick to get to know us and were always on site working hard when we needed assistance with anything. Their hard work and positive attitude totally made our holiday and we shared lots of laughs along the way. Thanks again girls!

Other highlights were having a full brewery, bar and food service onsite within walking distance so we could get a hot meal or a cold drink when we didn't feel like cooking our selves. This made a huge difference to our stay.

And last but not least... as there were multiple types of accommodation available at this venue, our over seas friends who didn't have a caravan were able to book into the lodge and join us for part of the holiday.

Perfect spot, close to all the beaches and great onsite facilities

P.S they cleaned the bathrooms from top to bottom daily and you can get hot running showers for as little as $0.50 a wash - bargain!!!! We will be back again next year for...

HWB is a family owned and run gastro pub about 25 minutes south of Whitianga. There are children playing and running around happy, there are dogs that occasionally come to you at outside tables for a quiet greeting and scratch behind the ears that makes you feel important to them as if they have been waiting just for you all day. The food is sublime, wonderfully honest wood fired pizza that still bubbles as it arrives at your table, wafts of oven smoke that create an atmosphere of warmth and welcome, salt and pepper squid that washes down incredibly well with one of the several craft beers brewed on site by the wizardly Ben MacDonald. (I found the "About Time" IPA at 6.5% alcohol to be a particular favorite - thankfully we had a sober driver!). I recommend the tasting paddle though so that you can work through the lagers, pils, IPA, hazy, porter styles on offer. Make a point of talking to the staff and servers at HWB and you will feel their joy and passion at this one of...

Decent craft brewery & eatery in Whenuakite (not hot water beach) attached to a holiday park. The usual selection of beer types to be had, the XPA was particularly noteworthy for me. They have bar food (chips, burgers, burritos, tacos) with a kids menu and a pizza oven outside for freshly made pizza. I felt the beer was a little more expensive than other craft breweries I've frequented but you could argue the remote location is the reason for this. They also do takeaway 1.25L flagons but they just fill them up from the bar taps using a hose so they might not last as long as those filled in...