Is Waitomo Big Bird Retreat pet-friendly?

No, pets are not allowed at this property.

Where is Waitomo Big Bird Retreat located?

Situated in Waitomo Caves, this vacation home is within a 15-minute walk of Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre and Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Caveworld and Woodlyn Park are also within 15 minutes.

Waitomo Big Bird Retreat Reviews, Deals & Photos 2025

10/10 Excellent

Sharon G.

19 April 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Homely Stay

Great spot, very local to all we wanted to do. Homemade bread, bacon & eggs were a enjoyable extra. Only problem was no lighting in the garage and the gas bottle for the bbq was empty, meaning a quick change of dinner plans.

Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Lesley B.

10 April 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, location, listing accuracy

Beautiful country retreat

This was a perfect location for our group to stay in and use as a base for our stay in the region. Loved the big living area and the quiet at night. Two small quibbles: the email giving us the pin code for entry went unnoticed into our junk folder, and we ate almost all the food left for our breakfast on the first morning, not realising it was meant to last two mornings.

Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Nick A.

6 July 2022

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Great service

Great service, host very accommodating when we could not come on these dates and offered to move to another day.

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2022

8/10 Good

Kim L.

7 November 2022

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Our workers were happy with their accommodation for a couple of nights while working in the area.

I booked this for our service techs, they seemed happy with their stay. Should have read the listing property however as did not realise linen was an extra charge, never struck this before but generally I use another accom site, need to check more closely, my error.

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

6/10 Okay

Sally

11 July 2022

Liked: Communication

The owner is lovely but this property is very basic for the amount that is charged

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2022

10/10 Excellent

Jackie

7 March 2023

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities, communication

The house was an older style with older style furnishings but this suited our group fine. 2 toilets and showers which was good for our group of 9. Beds were comfortable, including the sofa bed. Lovely outlook from the deck. Conveniently located near the Waitomo caves, shop etc. The only slight downside for us was the fact that the barbecue didn’t work.

Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2023

8/10 Good

Toni A.

13 October 2022

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Nice stay

This property is quite basic but entirely adequate and very clean. Location is good with an excellent cafe close by. Our only concern was the lighting which is poor and certainly not good for readers. Thee are no bed lights or lamps and one bedroom light did not work at all. Otherwise we enjoyed our stay.

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Amanda K.

29 February 2024

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Great Grandma's house in rural NZ

Our family stayed here while we visited the Waitomo Caves and then on our way to Hobbiton. It was clean, had everything we needed for a comfortable family adventure and it's centrally located to the attractions. We happened to bring some dim color changing lights, which came in handy so we could keep the windows open at night without attracting bugs inside the house. The king sized bed was very firm, but we found some mattress pads in the closet to give it some cushion. The petting farm tour added a delightful bonus to our vacation. Our host had timely communication and was very accomodating. I would gladly stay here again.

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Fiona H.

9 February 2025

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Lovely place near the Waitomo Caves

My family stayed here for two nights. This location is just around the corner from the caves, but is secluded. An excellent place to stay to avoid the crowds. The hostess responds fairly quickly to questions. I highly recommend going on the farm tour if you can - the tour is usually included for people staying at one of the hostess's properties, and includes the opportunity to meet sheep, cows, goats, alpacas, emus, and ostriches. It was very fun! I also highly recommend turning off all the lights and heading out on the porch late at night if you can; the location is very far away from light pollution, which means that you can see many more stars than most people are typically able to.There weren't really any downsides to our stay, although there are a few things to be aware of. First, the driveway is very steep and a bit tight, so be careful when driving up. Second, the house is a bit older, so if you can't stand bugs or you need recently renovated appliances, I would find somewhere else to stay (but if you don't mind those things, the house is very lovely!). Third, the house would probably be very difficult, if not impossible, to access for wheelchair users.All in all, I highly recommend this location for visitors!

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2025

2/10 Terrible

Sashreekh P.

26 December 2022

Liked: Check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Disliked: Cleanliness

Unpleasant experience overall

We booked this place for a day however it fell way below expectations. While the place is spacious with three bedrooms, the interiors were in much need of a renovation. The linen was dusty and unclean for all beds. The main issue was the amount of pests in the house - it was full of spiders, webs and cockroaches everywhere - it’s normal to expect that in summer with a yard however we found spiders on the beds and around them. The place would benefit from a pest control clean.

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2022

4/10 Poor

Kelvin R.

2 September 2022

Liked: Check-in, communication, location

Disliked: Cleanliness, listing accuracy

Poorly maintained house

This property is beyond tired and is poorly maintained. For example, the towels were threadbare with holes. The furniture was a bunch of castoffs and rejects, including electric recliner chairs that did not work and there was no PowerPoint to plug them into anyway. The small television was mounted on the wall with cords hanging down and there were random chairs in the lounge that made no sense. The fire was strapped with electrical tape marked do not use, quite ugly and useless. Fortunately, there was a functional heat pump in the lounge . The bedrooms had small ceramic heaters also taped together with electrical tape, probably fairly dangerous if used for too long. The water pressure was weak and in one of the showers you’ve got to choose between being scalded and frozen at any given moment. The wardrobes had either no or only one or two hangers in them. We also shared the accommodation with a few unbooked guests of the insect variety. The wallpaper and all of the bedrooms was peeling . The house could’ve used a good cleaning above and below eye level. The supposed second bathroom did not have a sink, only a laundry tub, and there was no hand towel in that bathroom . On the positive side the beds were reasonably comfortable and the owner had left a loaf of freshly baked bread and other provisions for breakfast —also it’s quite close to the caves if that is your priority. However, we did not stay for the two nights that we had booked because the accommodations were so nasty.

Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

2/10 Terrible

warren w.

5 March 2023

Liked: Check-in, communication

Disliked: Cleanliness, listing accuracy

Terrible!

If I could have scored overall lower than one I would have. Issues as below. 1. Security - front ranch slider cannot be latched closed. 2. Outside lighting does not work - not ideal when arriving in the dark. Garage lights do not work. 3. Safety - the deck handrail is about to fail, the deck bounces badly. 4. Cleanliness - food scraps under the microwave had not been cleaned. 5. Furniture - these appear to be off casts of tired furniture and mostly broken. Armrests are tacky and stick to your arms. 6. Insects infestations - MASSIVE cockroaches with heaps of babies, these even got into our luggage overnight - YUCK. We even had a live spider crawling on the freshly baked bread. 7. Price - for the high price we paid per night the standards MUST BE HIGHER!. We were that shocked by the state of this property that we left one night early and found accomodation elsewhere. I think a fair rate for this property would be a low budget per night - not what we were charged. Avoid at all costs. Not a good place to stay.

Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2023

8/10 Good

Sandra B.

21 November 2022

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

good location

Lovely host, great welcome and ideal location for all our requirements during golf tournament . easy directions and instructions.Ann is an awesome lady to work with, would recommend.

Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2022

10/10 Excellent

Janice A.

16 August 2022

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Warm welcome & Breakfast too

We only stayed for 1 night, but I wish we had spent more time. The home was as described in the listing. However, I didn't remember or realize that breakfast would be provided. Ann left milk, bacon, eggs and a homemade loaf of bread for us for breakfast. It was a very welcome surprise and much appreciated. We had early reservations for the Waitomo Glowworm caves the next morning. We also highly recommend visiting the caves. After our cave adventure, we stopped by the farm and said "hello" to the animals - another highlight. We didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted to see. But I'm really glad we stayed at the Big Bird Retreat for the time we had. Thanks Ann!

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2022

6/10 Okay

Cheryl B., aucksland New Zealand

9 May 2022

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

School holiday break

A short stay with grandchildren. Close proximity to the caves so location was ideal. Property is older but we knew that from the booking photos. It was basically clean (carpets fairly new) although some of the kitchen things need updating - pots, frying pans ( handles loose) The water temperature in the shower was very hard to control - either very hot or cold. I couldn’t open the ranchslider to the deck. Effective heat pump in lounge. Hostess Ann was good enough to supply milk, butter, eggs, bacon and fresh homemade bread. The girls enjoyed the animals at Ann’s farm.

Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2022

10/10 Excellent

Megan W.

12 April 2021

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Great spot, retro comfy bach

House is private, great parking, amazing location very close to all the Waitomo sights. Host was so helpful, tour of bird farm so fun. Only suggestion would be some updated lounge furniture, recliners didn't work, some seats uncomfortable. But for a stunning, well priced weekend checking out the glowworm caves you can't go wrong here!

Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2021

8/10 Good

Jason B.

26 January 2021

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

ILL BE BACK (ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER)

Was all good, very convenient to everything , will stay here again when we return for the black abyss

8/10 Good

Marijke V.

10 January 2021

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Great stay, great property

Great location for visiting Waitomo. Property really clean, comfortable and private. Added bonus of enjoying a wonderful sunset and then some stargazing from the backyard.

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2021

10/10 Excellent

Ioannis M.

4 January 2021

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Great brirf stay

Lovely medium sized house that is at the center of the Waitomo area and very easy to find! Everything was as described and the unit was spotlesly clean. The house is quite old but that wasn't important for us and overall it is highly recommened from us.

Stayed 1 night in Jan 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

24 September 2020

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Weekend at Waitomo

Very nice property, everything you need is there. Comfortable beds and two bathrooms is a plus. Lovely breakfast provided by Ann and complimentary visit to Petting Farm was a hit, especially for our animal mad daughter. It is also walking distance to village. Would stay again and recommend to others

Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2020

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