Name: Little Earth Lodge
Address: 85 Abbey Caves Road Whangarei 0175,Abbey Caves Road, Whangarei, Whangarei, Whangarei, 0175, New Zealand
Rating: 9

Smoking areas

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

General

Non-smoking rooms

Rooms

Common kitchen

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Barbecue grill(s)

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Whangarei Airport

Little Earth Lodge

Whangarei

I had a single room and it was superbly clean, with slide doors to make accessing common kitchen area easy.  

Polly and David were delightful hosts ... efficient, friendly and non-intrusive.  Very interested in how my Perfect Day Cruise which I booked through them went.  (It was exactly as its name indicates and the people running it were very professional).  Highly recommend both.

Quiet beyond imagining!

The Little Earth Lodge is set in a wonderful location, ideal for an overnight stay if you are travelling to the Bay of Islands from Auckland. It is dated but the rooms are clean and the resident animals are a real bonus. It has the potential to be fantastic, but our experience was soured by the attitude of the owners. 

The owners were Polly and David. Polly was ice cold, she couldn’t even manage a smile when we met, she was just focused on us securing payment - it is surprising she is in the hospitality industry as she doesn’t seem to enjoy it or like her guests!

Polly is no doubt behind the passive aggressive signs in the rooms to close the doors quietly and to conserve water etc. which further makes you feel unwelcome and on edge. 

David was approachable and friendly but clearly just does as Polly tells him. After checking out (strictly by 10am) we explained we were driving to Kerikeri and asked to use the toilet quickly before we hit the road. He paused and told us that Polly had just cleaned them so we weren’t allowed, despite there being other guest staying and still using the facilities. I was gobsmacked to say the least. 

We also asked to buy some eggs but were told by David that the chickens hadn’t laid any, I assume he didn’t realise we saw the egg basket full in the kitchen, ready for the next guests! 

A real shame our experience was soured by the owners! 

Unwelcoming owners soured our experience.

We are an active retired couple who do mostly day hikes. Due to our overambitious travel plans we could only stay at the Little Earth Lodge one night. Still, we had a great time there. Our hosts were wonderful, the kitchen area was clean and well stocked, the property was beautiful. Our room was beautiful, simple, clean and quiet. We enjoyed having sliding door off our room to an outside sitting area. It was great to retreat to this relaxing setting after a day of hiking. I hope some day we can return and have more time to enjoy!

LOVED the Little Earth Lodge

They have a few rooms (not sure but 7-8 rooms maybe) with shared toilets and showers. Generally clean and very close to the glow worm caves. There's a shared kitchen and a TV/Entertainment room which could be very useful to cook your meal and spend a couple of hours hanging out with other guests. There was no A/C in our room but it was ok at night. Interestingly there was no mosquitos! 
You cannot make any noise in your room (like laughing or watching movies on your laptop without a headset as it's too quite there and any sound can disturb others. (At least we didn't)
Great place to stay for the night :)

Great value for money

Stayed at the lodge in December 2017 for two nights. The environment -- meaning the landscape -- was beautiful, set in a lush (for summer) area down a short but somewhat steep gravel road. I don't believe the lodge is on a public transport line and it's certainly not in the town of Whangarei but that's its appeal! It's literally within walking distance to Abbey Caves and the hosts were quite helpful in showing us the layout of the land. They also provide free gear to entire the cave, which was quite thoughtful and much appreciated since we traveled light.

Lots of land surrounding the property (& a few animals outside) for everyone to run around or sun themselves. Free wi-fi (which isn't always the case in NZ) though there is a cap and I appreciated the large refrigerator/cooking area. Smartly, it is a separate building from the sleeping rooms so no unnecessary noise. Attached to the kitchen (with its full size refrigerator) was a connected but separate room for common lounging. All in all, plenty of seating.

There are six rooms here I believe. They're quite basic, all studio-style (to my knowledge) with a large closet then the beds -- we shared a triple but thankfully there were no squeaky bunks. All separate beds.  No TV but we didn't care. Just means the room is legitimately for sleeping or lounging only.  However, the entire patio door slid open allowing for a great breeze. Cannot recall that it had air conditioning but we didn't need it mid-December.

I appreciated the amenities and how available the hosts made themselves, but only if guests would like.  You can read more at gorocketdog.blogspot.com. Plus, BBH card discount! Great place and environment for the price!

Little Earth Lodge

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Location

Description of the hotel

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