Island Time

Perfect house for our family to stay and attend wedding, spacious, comfortable, beautiful garden to sit around, spa, close to town, self checkin , didn't see owner or manager

There is a bit of a smell in some corner of the garden, maybe septic?

Hair dryer did not work. Property has a spa pool but no extra towels were supplied for this. Not enough towels were supplied

Lovely garden and hot tub.

Good location a 10-minute walk to town, nice backyard furniture with comfortable seating. Nice outdoor shower. A big back yard with lots of room and privacy. Good kitchen facilities if you want to cook, and plenty of plates, glasses, etc. Easy parking on-site and timely communication with the owner/manager throughout.

There was a stench both nights smelling like raw sewage that woke us up, forcing us to close all the windows and my wife wore a mask, fearing some kind of respiratory issue. We smelled it faintly when first entering the house, but the smell was largely in the front of the house, and we opened the rear doors and things were fine that afternoon/evening. Parts of other days were fine, too, but both nights were horrible with an overpowering stench. It came from outside the house, though the source is unclear. The owner/manager was dismissive of our experience, variously blaming it on the cyclone (we stayed in three other places on Waiheke Island the week following the cyclone in late Feb 2023, none of which had any smell whatsoever), our "taxing the system" (we never took an indoor shower or used the dishwasher or washing machine or any other appliance that used the septic system), and seaweed washing up at high tide nearby (we didn't smell this anywhere else in the neighborhood, and it didn't smell anything like seaweed, at least in our experience. It smelled exactly like raw sewage. And if it was seaweed at high tide, that's going to be a recurring problem.) I don't know the source of the problem, so I'm not blaming it on anything in particular, but it was an awful smell and made for a terrible experience in an otherwise nice house. If you're paying NZD$600+ per night you don't expect to be awoken both nights with the stench of raw sewage (or whatever it was). I've never written a negative review before, and maybe it was just a bad few days in that location, but prospective renters should know of our experience there. It was in stark contrast with every other place we've stayed, both on Waiheke Island and throughout New Zealand, which were all wonderful.

Full kitchen with all equipment required to cook a family meal. Very comfortable beds, 1 King in spacious sleepout with outside toilet and shower just a few steps away. Inside 1 queen bed and 2 singles. 2 separate living/lounge areas. A few minutes walk to the shops on the main street in Oneroa.

Hairdryer didn't work.

Wonderful stay - the home is beautiful. Big thank you to Richard for being such a great host!

Property clean and great location, really comfortable to stay in and chill out in!