11 of us stayed at Rovina’s house for a long weekend mountain biking and enjoying Rotorua. There were 7 adults and 4 kids ranging from 5 to 17.
Kawaha point is great location (as long as you have a car) - not far from town, close to many attractions and amenities. The house is next to a reserve with a kid’s play park that fronts the lake. Rovina is a kind, responsive and helpful host. It’s a large house, lots of bedrooms, large bathrooms and beds - plenty of room for a group to spread out. There’s a good garage attached to the house for drying washing, storing mountain bikes etc. and a well-fenced backyard for the kids to run around in, with a clothesline. The Wifi is good, and the house is very clean.
On the negative side, we only had hot water on the first and last day of a 5 day stay. The hot water system broke, after the first day, and despite host being responsive it took some time to fix. Having to have cold showers during Winter wasn’t comfortable, and no concession was offered by the host.
The beds are the firmest I’ve experienced, and I found it hard to get a good night’s sleep. The bedding is also minimal for quite a cold house, and although it’s very well fitted with heat pumps (many with non-working remotes, required juggling) and electric blankets, these need to be on most of the time.
The fit out of the house was minimal, and there wasn’t quite enough of most things to cover 11 people, e.g. tea towels, bathmats, glasses, cutlery etc.
The house would be a great prospect with a little more money spent on the basics to make it more comfortable for the group of guests it can accomodate.