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The scenery is good, there are more bugs in the room. The facilities are also basically close to the limit of needing renovation. However, it is very good to have such an supporting facility in the big countryside. The young lady at the front desk is also very good. In addition, if you want to use an outdoor heated swimming pool, it is best not to live in a single building. The area where the single house is located is too far to the pool, to drive around from outside.

Our family thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Camp ground was clean, tidy with good facilities. The tent site was big, the kids could safely navigate their way around, the beach was nice short walk away!

We spent a blissful few days enjoying the stellar private view from the Pohutukawa cabin (see photo), which had everything we needed for a very comfortable stay. Bonus: we enjoyed watching the neighbour's cows cruise by for a visit while the sun set on the spa pool! The shower was excellent, too. Maitai Bay, only a short drive away, was our favorite beach during our entire 3 weeks in NZ. In the other direction, the shops in nearby Mangonui had yummy fish and chips and ice cream - though we didn't need to leave the Karikari Lodge to be well fed. Katalina was so generous feeding us local seafood feasts. On our final day, even with Cyclone Gabrielle looming in the forecast, Paul and Katalina toured us down the length of Tokerau Beach -- including digging for tuatua! Quite fun once we got the hang of it. I hope we can return on our next trip to NZ. Big thanks to Paul and Katalina for welcoming us so kindly!

My partner and I came in for dinner on Easter Sunday - we were staying at the Doubtless Bay Villas for the Easter weekend. I ordered Lamb Kofta as a starter and Ribs with Asian slaw as a main course. The waitress brought my lamb to the table and it didn't take long for me to realise that it wasn't cooked properly. It was pink on the inside and in fact there was a small piece of completely raw lamb on the end of one of the skewers. I did eat a little bit of it and was showing it to my partner. I also told him that the Tzatziki wasn't very good either, however that may also just be personal preference. Next thing, the waitress brought out my main course. There had been no questions about how the meal was in between so I had no opportunity to explain my thoughts. In addition to that, I still had the entree in front of me. I said to the waitress that I still had my entree and she made a comment along the lines of ”oh yes” and then put the main course down on the table anyway. I pushed the entree to one side as I wasn't really eating it anyway. The Ribs were quite good - the flavour was lacking in my opinion but that was just personal preference - they were cooked well. The Asian slaw was incredibly poor. It was a pile of shredded green and purple cabbage with a blob of mayo on the top. It was even a properly dressed coleslaw and certainly not Asian style that would have been dressed with lime, sesame oil, fish sauce etc. It was just a big pile of raw cabbage and no other vegetables. I also had an extremely disappointing Pina Colada but again, I can put that down to personal preference but the green dyed dessicated coconut that was sprinkled on the top was really unpleasant. My partner said his dinner of Cauli Manchurian followed by the Lamb Shank was very underseasoned and not enjoyable, however this is not something we would complain about but we think you should know that the quality wasn't there. When we left, I went to the bar as I wanted to give the waitress a tip but that didn't happen as she said they can't take a tip by EFTPOS payment and my partner had already paid for the dinner. I wanted to give her a tip because she was kind and pleasant. I told her my thoughts on my dinner and she apologised. She was a very nice young woman and unfortunately I didn't get her name. But it was clear that the three very young women serving in the bar and restaurant that night were very undertrained. She had no idea what to do when she brought my main course out and the entree was still in front of me - mostly uneaten. I also felt that the waitstaff were underdressed for their role - black tights/yoga pants and tshirts are very unprofessional looking for dinner service at a restaurant where we spent almost $200.