First the positives.. The cottage is beautiful and very spacious with three rooms. An ideal for a bigger family traveling. It's located 35-40 mins from Franz Josef, but that's more than made up for by the tariff. However, there's just one bathroom for all rooms. The front and back garden along with the cow and sheep farm across the road add to the village-esqe feel of the place. The common area has a nice TV along with many movies/ books/ games for kids. We had a great time at the cottage and loved every moment we spent there..
The negatives.. The cottage is far from the town and was a bit difficult to locate as no house number was mentioned on there booking. We arrived at around 730 PM and were trying to reach Barbara on the number provided on the booking since 530 but she did not pick up or call back. We somehow managed to find the place, entered the first house on the street being afraid that we may be trespassing on someone else's property. There was some note left for us which confirmed we had arrived at the right place. Since it was late, and we had a pretty packed next day, we wanted to get a quick dinner but there was nothing available at whataroa so had to drive all the way to Franz Josef to get dinner and make arrangements from breakfast next day. Had we known of this, we would have get up the same while on our way to the cottage. Also, there's no wifi at the cottage at the moment, something which Barbara is I believe working on to get, and if you don't have a working cell phone, then you are cut off from the world.
Overall the stay was great but could have been much more comfortable had a few things been known to us before hand.