Tui Base Camp

Not the hostel !! Damn that was a horror movie! We were upgraded to a motel unit by friendly , understanding staff which was really appreciated. Motel had 2 rooms, one with 2 single beds, other has a double. kitchen, bathroom with wet floor shower & toilet.. It's a little dated, kitchen has twin gas hobs, big fridge/freezer, jug ect, Plates, cooking equipment. . Fantastic gas/electric heating which was very welcomed. Clean unit, super comfy bed. A chair on the deck outside the room would be great. The base camp cafe/bar had good food. Even catering for Gluten Free .Very friendly & helpful. Was a rather chilly night of our stay, but the unit heated super quickly. Had a comfy warm sleep. 4 Square is straight across the road for anything you might need. Bar and bottle store right next door if required. Just 10-12 minutes travel down the road to the famous Gemstone beach where you can spend literarily hours searching & beachcombing for treasure.

Stopped for morning tea (after finding a teapot that we need desperately at the local op shop - brilliant people there). Extremely friendly and chatty staff. Ordered a tea and decided to try a savoury scone as well. Tea was good - but the scone was excellent - topped my personal list of scones had throughout the country - congratulations Shirley - great scone - if I'm ever back that way I'll order a dozen to take back home. Excellent stop and we highly recommend

At check in the staff were friendly and helpful, unfortunately the positives end there. After heading down to the lodge from checking in at the Cafe the rubbish bins at the front door were rancid, every door and window was open in the ground floor common area and lights turned off and the first impressions from our kids were "its creepy" after moving into our room and the kids pointing out the animal droppings on the hallway carpet, we headed to the kitchen to make dinner. The kitchen was grubby with a non working fridge that smelled like something had died in it and the other two fridges didn't seem to be that cold despite the display showing it was set to 5 degrees. Thankfully we had pre made food that only required the microwave... After heating dinner I headed to the laundry only to find one washer has been broken since Xmas and the only other washer on site that is outside I couldn't get to work. After all of this we decided to cut our trip short, packed up the car and left after no more than an hour after arriving.

This was a good, convenient, motel to stay at the night before and after the Hump Ridge Track. I had a spacious two bedroom apartment. The bed was comfortable and I slept well. It was reasonably clean, while acknowledging that a lot of guests are trampers walking the Hump Ridge Track with hiking boots, equipment and attendant mud which has to be constantly kept clean. Tui Base Camp has a reasonable restaurant. However, as in many places in New Zealand the food is simply from packets or cans and sold at high markup. Tasty and filling, but not gourmet or reflective of thoughtful cuisine. I'm sure my corn and bacon chowder was simply from a can. Chips were no doubt frozen from a packet. The only item which was truly delicious was the steak (I'm on a minimal meat diet and only have a steak two or three times a year, so this was quite a treat). The breakfast was excellent, really tasty and abundant. As this is rural New Zealand everything comes with butter which I don't usually eat, but actually it was really good. The waitress even got me a pint of pineapple juice from the bar which is just what I felt like the morning after finishing the Hump Ridge Track! My only concern about staying here was that the gas hob in the apartment I stayed in was extremely old, and I'm sure I could smell gas when I walked into the unit. When I tested the hob it had a lot of orange flame in the blue. Gas flames should be entirely blue, and the presence of a significant amount of orange or red flame indicates the hob needs attention, even if it's just careful cleaning. I mentioned this to the management as I was concerned about leaking gas. They didn't really seem to care. As a result I slept with my door shut and the windows open in my bedroom (I had a two bedroomed unit). This is a reasonable place to stay in Tuatapere, but I'd probably try somewhere else next time.

Came here for a meal while visiting a friend in the area. The quality of the food and service was beyond our expectations. Supoer friendly people and they were able to provide gluten free fare. Would definitley recommend stopping if you are passing through this quaint little town

Came here for a few meals while visiting family in the area. Great food, and friendly staff. Definitely recommended for the meals at any time of the day. We popped in for a quick meal first time and the platters were enormous and varied. Will be coming her again when we return next year.