Blackcurrant Backpackers

Blackcurrant Backpackers is a cheap hostel that should be used whenever some of the nicer and prettier hostels in the area are full. It performs adequately in most ways, but lacks anything extra or memorable or frankly worthwhile. It isn't a bad hostel -- it just doesn't stand out in any way and everything is fairly mediocre. Use it as a backup option when others are busy.

The Location

Blackcurrant is in a great location that is close to everything in town, but far enough away from the bars and action that it isn't too loud at night. The travel center and i-site are a three- to five-minute walk down the street and anything you need (groceries, cinema, pubs, lake) is within seven minutes at the most.

Rooms and Bathrooms

The dorm rooms are very plain with little or no decoration anywhere other than the occasional section of wall painted gray. Each room has a sliding glass door and a shared balcony of sorts, which creates a very comfortable feel within the room. Most of the dorm rooms have no bunk beds, which is a rather nice change from most hostels. There are no lockers within the rooms, but since five or six people is the largest dorm room, your belongings still feel secure. They have the option of singles/doubles/dorms or anything in between.

The bathrooms, again very plain, are adequate and certainly not spectacular. Water pressure is acceptable and there is space to hang your towel, but little else. They are clean and have more or less everything you'd expect from a normal bathroom. Most of the dorm rooms have private bathrooms and since there are only three or four other people using them, they're quite clean for the most part.

Common Spaces

Common space are nothing special. The standout is the nice small courtyard with picnic tables and grass and trees, but everything else is quite small and less than desirable. The sole TV looks like it is from 1989 and can't be properly seen from more than ten feet away. There is a book-share (technically) with about thirteen books nobody born in this millennium would enjoy reading. The kitchen is quite small (with two sets of stoves and an oven), but since the place itself isn't very large it never seems too overcrowded. That's about all there is in terms of common spaces and so it makes you want to spend time doing things outside of the hostel or in your room, which can be a good thing, especially in such a wonderful place like Taupo. The people staying there are just like the people staying everywhere else -- friendly, foreign, and cheap. It is definitely not the party hostel of the area, but was still social enough to remain entertaining.

Summary

Blackcurrant is a nice enough place overall. There are many places in Taupo that are better and possibly a few that are worse. It is often the last hostel to fill up so if you can't find room elsewhere, look here. The staff fall into one of two categories. They are either foreigners working for a couple weeks who are very friendly, but know very little. Or they are locals and thus very knowledgeable, but for whatever reason angry at life and not as helpful as you'd expect. The hostel is reminiscent of a cheap motel with more people in your room, but the cheap rates are still worth a gander if you can't find room elsewhere.

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
April 2009