It felt like being stuck in the Twilight Zone

We stayed here for three months while waiting for our Australian visa process, having paid the full amount upfront. Unfortunately, the experience was consistently and profoundly disappointing.

On the day we moved in, we discovered that the lodge had no municipal electricity due to unpaid council fees. This was later reframed as the lodge now operating as an “eco lodge” and being “fully solar powered.” In practice, this meant no power most nights from around 10 pm until 10 am — a 12-hour outage that exceeded even the worst periods of load shedding. Refrigeration was unreliable, food regularly spoiled, electronics were damaged, and the internet was unstable. As two people working from home, this caused repeated disruptions to meetings and work commitments.

Hot water was equally unreliable. Over several months, hot showers were rare enough to feel noteworthy. Cold showers became the norm. The advertised pool was never usable, as the pump could not be run due to power limitations and the pool was therefore not maintained.

Privacy was also a significant concern. The rental unit’s kitchen contains a doorway directly into the main house, concealed only by a curtain. At any time, the owner or staff could enter through this passage, which created a constant sense of intrusion and made the stay feel awkward and uncomfortable rather than private or self-contained.

When concerns were raised, communication with the owner was often defensive and uncomfortable. We were repeatedly told we could “move out immediately” despite having paid in full, which created an awkward power imbalance. At one point, we were directed to a competing lodge, accompanied by an inappropriate and offensive remark — an exchange that was unsettling rather than reassuring.

Perhaps the clearest illustration of how abnormal things had become: one evening, while showering with no power or hot water, another guest knocked to ask whether we had electricity or hot water. She was shocked by the answer. We, after two months, were no longer surprised at all.

Had we known any of this beforehand, we would never have booked. Prospective guests should be very clear on what “eco” means here, what level of discomfort is expected, and what degree of privacy they are willing to sacrifice.