Loved our 2 night stay at Tanya and Gert's place. The house was cosy and spacious, with everything self-contained. We really appreciated Gert meeting us at the house for an evening arrival as we had to push back our plans coming from Taupo due to weather.
Amenities included use of the wood burning fireplace with wood provided, near which we enjoyed playing cards on the cosy carpeted floor. The place had a large modernized bathroom with toilet, shower, separate bathtub and sink. Heating was well-circulated throughout the house by an exhaust fan. The beds both had electric blankets, each side with separate controls. Loved that the place also had a dishwasher to make clean up easy and clothes washer & dryer for our ski gear from our previous day.
The location, while not being in the city centre, was convenient for those who want some quiet time with a beautiful view of lake Rotorua. The gated driveway accommodated our large SUV rental, which was handy.
Gert was exceptionally friendly and gave us several suggestions for fun activities. He even organised discounted entry into the scenic Polynesian hot spring spa for the 4 of us, very satisfying after our winter white water rafting morning!
Our only suggestions would be for 2 couples sharing, decide who is getting the better room as one room is significantly bigger, more modern and has a larger bed than the other. Sharing of 1 bathroom between 4 adults (toilet, shower, sink all in one room) might also make getting ready more time-consuming. We would also have loved to be provided an extra towel each as we spent our main day doing 3 water activities, and having only 1 towel per person wasn't ideal.
Overall, fantastic value for money in a lovely location with generous, accommodating hosts. 10/10 from us!