Whangarei Central Holiday Park

I had a lovely stay at Whangarei Central Holiday Park. I stayed in a self contained studio. Everything was clean and well cared for, the bed was super comfy and it had everything I needed. Location was great, an easy (and flat) walk into town. Highly recommended.

We thought the sign on the office saying "No gangs, no drug dealing, no soliciting for services" was rather unnerving but that was the least of our worries. We had booked and pre-paid for a powered campsite for three nights over Easter. Traffic held us up and we realised it would be dark when we arrived so checked online to see if they had a cabin we could upgrade to if it was too dark to put the tent up. There was one available so we decided we'd upgrade on arrival. We arrived at 6.30pm to find the office closed. Yes they close at 6pm even on he eve of a long weekend! But we saw the owner looking at us from her lounge (next to the office) so we went up to the office door but she wouldn't come out. We rang the telephone number. No reply. Next thing her dog comes running out of the lounge to bark at us. No attempt made to call it back in. Eventually we had to find a hotel for the night (slim pickings on a holiday weekend). When we went back the next day and raised it with the owner she said proudly told us "oh I don't work after 6pm you should have just found a site and set up - there's a sign on the door". Completely ignored the fact it was dark and not obvious where the powered tent campsites were and we'd wanted to upgrade to a cabin. The whole vibe of the camp is odd. Certainly not a fun holiday atmosphere. I wouldn't take a family here. The camp dog, although friendly enough, has free reign of the camp. We saw a dog poo on the driveway that some poor camper had obviously stood in. Only positive things I can say is it's close to town, they keep it as clean as you can for really old facitlites and it's cheap - but frankly you're better off paying the extra for a more pleasant experience. I'm pleased to say we went to the Raglan Holiday Park the following week and had a true 5-star camping experience for an extra $6pp per night. The difference in customer service and camp atmosphere was like a different planet after our Whangarei nighmare.