Golden Springs Motel and Holiday Park

Last year my husband and I couldn’t get into our favourite place – Waikite Valley and we saw Golden Springs advertised in the Jasons directory. Frankly, there are no words to describe our horror! I am so sorry that I booked online (and paid in advance for 2 days). Their marketing photos in the Jasons directory look like a different place. I believe they should be updated. This place is extremely run down – everything – the shop appears to be extinct and I couldn’t see that the restaurant was operating. What they call “hot pools” appear to be sandfly/ mosquito infested holes and I couldn’t believe people were actually sitting in them. I would be terrified of getting sick there. I heard the owner telling other people that “like all of these pools around NZ there are sandflies!” That is quite incorrect When we realised we couldn’t stand the place (even for one day), we went over to Waikite Valley pools for a swim and didn’t see a single sandfly. Golden Springs camping ground was quite a hot topic during our bathing at Waikite. We met one couple who said they’d paid $160 for a cabin only to find it had rotten walls and mouldy curtains. Somebody else said they had a mouse in theirs! Seriously, how can they charge people for the disgusting state of this camping ground. It should not be allowed to stay open – aren’t there some standards required to be met. This place must give our country such a bad name. Don’t go near it. What a rip off. This really taught me a lesson – not to book online if I’ve never checked out the place first.