Kowhai Lane Lodge

The owners were lovely and very helpful in terms of what to do on the island.

There was nothing that I did not like

Great location, clean and friendly hosts. Plenty of reading material and breakfast food, tea and coffee provided in the apartment

Upstairs rooms can be noisy.

Well located, private and clean!

Nothing

Close to the town center. Had everything we needed. Tours included in price of lodging.

A lovely house with views over the water. The hosts are marvellous, very helpful.

It is fine but there is a bit of a walk back up the hill after a meal at the pub.

It was a nice accommodation. Kitchen and living room shared with others. Host knowledgeable about what was going on in Oban and Stewart Island. Trip to Ulva Island was included in the price.

Price a bit expensive and although we enjoyed the visit to Ulva Island some people might want to organise such visit themselves.

The hosts at the lodge were amazing. Peter and Iris are a wealth of knowledge and are happy to share information about the island with you. Peter offers a tour of Ulva Island as part of the stay - he was a forest ranger there in the late 60s - and it was very good. It's a beautiful location with excellent views of the bay.

Beautiful location with a gorgeous view. Very, very comfortable, it felt like home.

I liked everything about it.

Very comfortable sharing an entire house with other guests The 4-hr-trip to Ulva island led by Peter, a forester, which was included in the price. Operators were very caring making sure you were comfortable and providing a lot of recommendations.

No wifi No TV connection

Great hosts with impressive knowledge of Stewart Island.

Great lodge a few minutes walk from the town. Nice and peaceful with everything you need. Iris and Peter are great hosts and we had a fantastic time. Recommended.

Nothing.

Lovely self contained flat in a well cared for garden

All good

Peter and Iris were friendly and informative. They picked us up and dropped us off anyplace we needed to go that was too far to walk easily. We had a great visit to Stewart Island

Wonderful hosts! We were collected from the ferry by Peter & taken to lodge where we met Iris. Ulva Island trip to view birdlife, flora & fauna, plus saw sea-lions on a beach. Birdlife around lodge was fantastic with Kaka feeding apple from our hands! All in all a fabulous place to stay, comfy & a quiet location! Would highly recommend!

Weather! Very changeable, but that's island life! And an awful return trip on ferry due to very high winds!

Well located in Oban with lovely view of Half Moon Bay Peter very welcoming host, knowledgeable guide for area activities Pick up at ferry , short tour of Oban

Hour long lecture of rules No wifi

This is a very difficult review to write. Booking.com has been "reminding" me to write for a month. To see why I've been avoiding writing this review see "What didn't you like?" below. First, our room was one of several in a house, more like an Airbnb than a Booking.com property. We had a great view of Half Moon Bay, with a room that was more than adequate in size and comfort. The setting was beautiful. The icing on the cake was Peter, the husband half of the husband and wife host team. Our experience with Peter was wonderful! He was extremely helpful, making himself available for the occasional drop-off or pick-up, and arrival and departure. More importantly, his tour of Ulva Island was extra-special, not to be missed. Peter was, for a number of years, the sole park ranger on Stewart Island. We only scratched the surface of his knowledge of the Island's flora and fauna. In spite of my ratings I highly recommend Peter and the Kowhai Lodge, assuming you deal with the problem discussed below ahead of time.

The little issues: the walk up hill to the Lodge from the "town"; thin doors; small, but adequate bathroom; and the lack of easily accessible electric sockets near the bed. (I suggest power strips on both sides of the bed.) The Lodge required a nonrefundable payment in full. Now for the real problem, and why I have been so reluctant to write this review: Iris, the wife half of the host team. In the beginning she was as sweet as honey, but you can tell the affect was strained, and she wanted to control the introduction to the property....all business. She recited all of her rules and regulations as if we were children. She kept interrupting Peter who was giving us useful information. Fortunately, Iris was pretty much absent for the rest of our stay, until the end. The end was a disaster, though. We had arranged with Peter to be out of our room and waiting for him to take us to the ferry at 10:00 a.m. Iris, though, had it in her mind that we were leaving much earlier, around 7:30 a.m. We were awakened by knocking on doors near our room, then on our door. The next thing we know, Iris has opened our door while we were still in bed, barely awake. It took me awhile to explain that we were taking the later ferry. Iris was actually arguing with me about our departure time. The moral of this story is to make sure that Iris knows, in no uncertain terms, that she is NOT to open your door, for any reason, during your stay at the lodge. Her sense of entitlement in that regard is more than disturbing. Finally, we were on the driveway at 9:55 a.m. for a 10:00 ride to the ferry. Peter had just left with another couple rather than waiting for us. Iris was unapologetic and kept arguing with me, accusing me of being argumentative! When Pete arrived she said, "Just get in the van and leave." At that point we couldn't wait to get out of there.

everything was fantastic

nothing, except the wet cold Stewart Is weather

From the minute Peter picked us up at the ferry, he and Iris were ultimate hosts. Kowhai Lodge is welcoming, fully stocked (even a bowl of apples for the parrots) and you could not ask for better accommodations. Thank you Iris and Peter!

We loved our stay on Stewart Island, staying at Kowhai Lane with Peter and Iris. The accommodation was fantastic in every way and the Information supplied by our hosts was comprehensive, their knowledge of the island and it's history was shared with great enthusiasm. Our visit to Ulva Island with Peter as our guide was a highlight of our stay. Great friendly hosts!

There was nothing not to like, cannot recommend this property too highly.

Location was good.

A half hour talk upon arrival to inform us of various things would be good for foreigners but unnecessary for people who have visited the island several times before.

The lodge is in a provate residence a short walk from the center of of Oban. We definately noticed that the walk was up (or down) a hill, but also that almost all lodging in Oban is up or down a hill and most are quite a distance from the town center. The lodge is quite clean and comfortable and Peter and Iris are delightful hosts. The included tour of Ulva Island Preserve was a highlight. Peter was the first forest ranger on Ulva island many years ago and provided many insights into its management challenges. We also arranged for a water taxi to the Port William hut on the beautiful Northwest Circut Track and hiked back to Oban. We also did a nighttime tour to observe kiwi's and saw three of the interesting birds. It was a moonless night and the stars were incredable. The hour-long ferry ride to Stewert Island was smooth, but the return was a bit rough and several of the passengers (fortunately not us) were seasick.

Location and facilities were relaxing.

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such lovely hosts 🙂Clean, comfy, tasteful.

fabulous hosts and information shared. great location.

Pete and Iris were lovely. Pete transported me all over the place and showed me round. The place was spotlessly clean and had everything you would need. The gardens were just lovely, and views from the balcony over Halfmoon Bay were gorgeous. It is a short walk from town which was very convenient.

I booked a "Kiwi King" room which turned out to be two single beds. I was expecting a King bed. The single bed was not very stable if you were at the edge. The duvet was too warm so I ended up having to use a small throw blanket over thesheet. Would have been good to have a lighter option in the room. The initial induction to the site took an hour. That is just too long and too much information.

everthing

nothing

wonderful hosts and wonderful place to stay

nothing