Glendaruel Bed and Breakfast

Lovely home and the host as always pleasant and took excellent care of us during our stay. Breakfast was delicious and made for a great start to the day. The views of her beautiful garden were amazing and the birds were enjoyable to watch in the evening.

Glendaruel Bed & Breakfast provided restful, relaxing and comfortable accomodation during my eight night stay on Rakiura Stewart Island in January 2023. This guest house is peaceful, charming and idyllic, providing comfortable accomodation at the end of each day made up of hiking, swimming, fishing, cycling, and organised tours. I had a single room. At first I thought the single bed might have been too small for me, as I am quite tall at 188cm (6ft 2). However, it was in fact extremely comfortable and I slept very well here. Do be aware the bed in the single room is quite creaky and if you move around a lot while sleeping it might disturb your sleep. Because I keep quite still when sleeping it was fine for me. However, I would have been happy with the double room as well (for one), though it is more expensive. The ensuite bathroom was compact, with an excellent power shower. When I booked, thought the room had a bath tub in it, but it didn't. Moreover, the shortage of water on the island would made me reluctant to use one even if there was a bath available. The breakfast was tasty, a full range of cereals (which I don't eat usually low to my low sugar diet) and Raylene, the hospitable host and owner of Glendaruel prepared a full cooked breakfast every morning. I mainly had eggs and tomatoes on toast, though bacon was available (which I avoided due to my minimal meat diet). There was a spacious second floor lounge (living room) with sublime views across to Paterson Inlet and a good collection of books. It was relaxing sitting there, watching the changing weather fronts roll in across the sea (although it was generally fine all the time while I was on the island). The island is beautiful, what much of Aotearoa New Zealand must have been like before widespread European colonisation. With its forests, sparkling blue seas and prolific bird life the island is one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand (alongside the Milford Track and Aoraki Mt Cook) I've been too. Practically the main challenge on the island was finding readily available inexpensive nutritious food. There is only one restaurant open to the public on the island, at the South Sea Hotel. The food there was mainly of the deep fried variety, it was almost always booked out and extremely expensive. There was no other choice. I phoned the Church Hill Boutique Restaurant, as all brochures (and internet sites) available on the island indicated it was open, only to be rudely told they only catered for guests in their hotel. The staff at the Kai Kart were rude and unfriendly. I went there for lunch on one occasion only to be told I couldn't have a fish burger just as the cook was handing one over to the local ambulance driver. Produce at the 4 square supermarket was old and often rotten, they would sell 3 day old stale ham and cheese sandwiches and give customers mean looks if they tried to look for any fresh options. The only decent cafe on the island, the