Kaikoura

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Topspot Backpackers

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stomps
stomps
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
4
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Editor Pick

Topspot Backpackers

  • April 6, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
Topspot Backpackers

This hostel was a very nice, very small backpackers' hostel located just up a very large set of stairs from the main street in Kaikoura. It was pretty easy to find--we got dropped off at the bus stop, and there was a sign for Topspot that pointed up the hill. The owners of the hostel lived in the building right next to the actual house that was the hostel, so it was obviously very small and contained. Upstairs there was a good lounge room with a TV and (FREE!) Internet access, provided you could stand waiting in line for it. We actually had to use our sleeping bags at this hostel since they didn't provide bed linens, but since we had them with us, that wasn't a big issue. I was a bit worried about bedbugs since they tend to appear on beds that have had a lot of sleeping bags on them, but that wasn't an issue at all.

The owner was very nice and gave us good instructions--our only minor issue was that since you cannot book online directly with the hostel, we didn't have the correct voucher that the place we booked through in Christchurch said they would send on for us. Since we hadn't been to Christchurch yet, there was no way we could have picked up this voucher, but the manager said he would take care of it with the booking place and we never heard anything more about it.

It has nothing to do with the stay, but I would have liked them to have a website, because it would have made booking much less of a hassle. They also let us keep our stuff in the room after we had checked out so we could go do our dolphin swim without carrying around our backpacks, which was very convenient. I definitely enjoyed the much calmer pace this hostel had, rather than the hustle and bustle of a larger city backpackers' hostel. Also, it was just down the hill and then 800m to the dolphin swim--probably the closest backpackers' accommodation in town to the new dolphin-swim place.

From journal Kaikoura--Wildlife Paradise

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