Our plans for a morning visit to Kaikoura followed by relaxing afternoon at Misa and Olmec's eco-cabin drinking tea in the beautiful garden and walking through the surrounding hills were washed away along with much of SH1 by the remains of tropical storm Gita.
Nevertheless, we were able to take refuge in the cabin and watch the torrential rain and wind thanks to Misa letting us check-in extra early. With a log fire keeping us warm and dry, and some wine, tea and nibbles to keep us going, we settled down to watch The Lord of the Rings on DVD. There is no TV or internet, but we had a laptop and could get a reasonable mobile data signal most of the time so it wasn't really a problem.
The shower and toilet facilities are outside in the open air. That's great if the weather is good, but a bit of a challenge in a storm. Also note that the hot woter is provided by the log burner. For us that was no problem as we needed the fire going to keep warm, but if the weather is hot it might make the cabin too hot. Cooking facilities also use the log burner. With a tank of hot water, the shower is very effective and invigorating. We braved it in the wind and rain, so can imagine it would be extra refreshing in better conditions.
Sleeping is on a matress on a mezanine level accessed up some wooden steps. You have to crawl around in the limited space, but once up there it's pretty cosy.
For us it was a bit of an adventure - an enjoyable one - and certainly a different type of experience after staying in lots of hotels. I think our only concern was about the lack of locks. When you go to sleep you can't lock the doors, so anyone could walk in at night. We had to set up several boobie-traps if anyone opened a door! It's a very remote area so highly unlikely anyone would, but when you're travelling you have your life in your suitcase and wouldn't want to risk losing anything.
We would certainly like to return to Misa and Olmec's Eco-Cabin. It made a nice change and put us right in the midst of nature. Only next time we'll try to make sure the weather is going to be better. :-)