Stay 4 nights & come exploring with us
Stay four nights or more at Ripples and we’ll take you on a complimentary private farm tour.
LIFE ON OUR FAMILY FARM
"One of our best experiences of our New Zealand Honeymoon!"
The cabins may bring you here.
But our family farm is often what guests remember most.
Stay four nights or more and join me for a complimentary private farm tour, exploring our fourth-generation sheep and beef farm near Waitomo — through views of landscapes used in multiple films and chew the fat with us about our life as farmers.
There’s no script and no set route. Instead, we head out in the farm ute and see where the conversation — and the farm — takes us. We might talk about farming and family, discover movie locations and hidden corners of the farm, or chat about the design of the cabins and what we're planning next. Really, it depends on what interests you.
Along the way, you'll see parts of rural New Zealand that aren't open to the general public. It's relaxed, personal and completely unscripted — and quite often, guests leave feeling more like friends..
*Please note, we take a break from farm tours over the Christmas and New Year period.
The Farm That Shaped Ripples
Ripples didn't just happen to be built on our family farm. It grew from it.
The limestone boulders around the cabins came from these paddocks. The handcrafted bedheads were made from timber used in the 2018 Bud Light Super Bowl commercial filmed here.
After exploring the farm, you'll never look at your cabin the same way again.
This is what we mean by the middle of beautiful.
Four Generations. Thousands of Stories.
A working sheep and beef farm has been in our family for four generations. Every tour is different, with stories about the land, the people, and the moments that have shaped Ripples over the years.
I grew up in the South Island beneath the Southern Alps, so I thought I knew dramatic landscapes. But the first time I travelled into this valley, it blew me away.
I clearly wasn't the only one. Multiple movies and international productions have been filmed amongst these limestone cliffs and rolling hills.
Landscape That Still Stops Me
Places Few People Ever See
Travel beyond the cabins to limestone rock formations, hidden viewpoints and rolling hill country overlooking Mt Ruapehu. These are paddocks where movies have been filmed and it's a side of Waitomo that few visitors ever experience.
We'd love to share the places that have shaped our family, our cabins and the Ripples story.
See where the movies were filmed.
Meet the Animals
Sugar, Latte, Chai and Roxie love meeting guests. If you visit in spring, you might even help bottle-feed our newest lambs. Watching the working dogs and spending time with the animals is often one of the highlights of staying at Ripples. Many children leave talking more about the sheep than the glowworms—and, if we're honest, plenty of adults do too.
One of the many views you'll discover on the farm tour. On a clear winter's day, Mt Ruapehu watches over the farm while our ewes graze below.