It's one of the only few motels situated not at the main road, I believe the only one that is enough isolated to give you feeling of being in the nature, in peace and quiet. The same time it's only 15min walk to the beach front in Paihia.
W had initially booked 1br garden apartment. It was situated in the ground floor of the separate building, the one most to the south. 2 units downstairs and owners apartment upstairs gave a feeling of privacy. In front of the door was lovely wooden patio and rolling down hill so we had unobstructed view of the bay. Kitchen, dining and living area are spacious, bedroom had queen and single bed, small desk and closet. Bathroom was small with separate toilet and curtain shower, adequate for us. What made us completely puzzled where two separate faucets for cold and hot water but apparently this is very common in New Zealand. The only downside was a kitchen. We cook a lot ourselves and usually have plenty of bottles , bags, etc, like with running full kitchen. Unfortunately there were only 2 drawers and the 3 cabinets already filed with cutlery and utensils, very difficult to storage anything. And of course again 2 faucets:-)
After 3 days we changed the room to 2bedrooms on the 1st floor, overlooking swimming pool. This was bigger apartment and except second bedroom is had bigger bathroom with walk in shower, kitchen counter was longer and we had terrace with another table and chairs. But despite kitchen being a bit bigger there was even less storage space. The good thing was much bigger fridge and modern combine hot-cold water faucet.
The pool is a decent size for splashing and short swims, with BBQ next to and sun-chairs to lie down on. The owners are very nice and willing to book tours for you or tell you more about attractions. The only minus of our stay was the price, it was over the Christmas and New Year and the price for the 2br apartment was very high. But maybe it's normal in Paihia.
Overall- highly recommended for those who are not keen on being squeezed in the middle of busy beach town but still want to be in few minutes distance from it. Very good for families.
Suggestion for owners- please do something about the kitchen storage space.