My wife and I stayed at Whau Bay for four nights (five days) with my brother, his wife and three month old (visiting from Canada) and our mother. Positives were that the bay is beautiful and the house is in a great location with lots of space, easy access and the boat ramp was really useful. The owner kindly let us use her mooring for our boat which made boating simple. Unfortunately, the positives were outweighed by the owners intrusive monitoring and micromanagement of us during our stay which made us uneasy for the duration and we struggled to relax or truly enjoy our time as a result. This was a real disappointment as this was intended to be a special family holiday which had been looked forward to by all of us for months.

Things to be aware of: Water is limited so be prepared to have this point laboured by the owner, she also monitors water usage she told us. We took our own sheets but were expecting towels to be included but were not there. Neither was sugar for tea and coffee, only one roll of toilet paper and one rubbish bag (all rubbish must be removed when you leave). We were staying for five days which meant a special trip 35 minutes to town was required pretty much straight away.

We had had three (couples) day visitors for short periods during our stay and were not advised of any rule against it (only being told on our last night). The owner then tried to charge us an extra $200 for this after we left. Her emails became extremely fabricated and aggressive. Fortunately I declined the charge which was supported by Air BnB upon their review of the circumstances. The listing has now been updated as per my suggestion. To avoid trouble from the owner make sure you drive on the gravel driveway “correctly”. At the end of our stay we were told by the owner that our extra three visitors had ruined her driveway by not driving on it correctly. Perhaps it’s only suitable for 4x4 vehicles.

Also be advised that you will not have private and exclusive use of the property. The owner lives not far up the driveway and during our stay frequently used the boat ramp, beach, etc with her family. We didn’t have a problem with that but the regular check-ups (even as late as 11pm) were a bit overboard.

Overall we did not enjoy our stay as much as we would have if we had been left in peace. We will not stay again and would not recommend this place to friends.