We commenced our travels in “Blue Snoopy” in November 2006. Whilst we have free camped from time to time, the majority of our overnight stays have and will generally be in caravan parks or roadhouses. We have been members of Big4, Top Tourist Parks and Family Parks of Australia to take advantage of discounts offered (hopefully we will benefit by the recovery in discounts of the total cost of membership).
We have no direct association with any of the organisations that we have reviewed and can therfore be totally unbiased in any comment we post about the caravan parks or roadhouses. Rather than post a comment about EVERY place we stay, it is appropriate to comment when a comment is necessary. Therefore, we will focus on the two extremes.
We will update these comments and reports progressively.
REVIEWS
Travellers Rest (Roadhouse) – Marla SA
Date: 9/6/07 & 5/6/08
Rating: 5/5
Compared with the majority of CP’s / Roadhouses that we have stayed at, the amenities here were exceptional and the cost of the stay extremely reasonable.
Barcaldine Tourist Park – Barcaldine QLD
Date: 25/5/08
Chain: TTP
Rating: 2/5
Barcaldine Tourist Park operated under the Top Tourist Park brand. The park is relatively new (circa 2004). From our perspective, the park lacks severely in amenities with only 2 male and 2 female toilets plus 4 combined unisex toilet / shower rooms. They are housed in what appear to be demountable buildings. This appears to be totally inadequate for the number of sites and detracts from a lovely rural setting. The only positive note is that the facilities are clean, the staff are friendly and the evening entertainment at the time of our stay was excellent. This is also an example of a park that seems to over populate as the site allocated to us was not even wide enough to open the awning.
There is also limited use of the laundry facilities as a notice states that management has priority with the washing machines for the linen in the cabins with starting time and the duration controlled by the number of cabins used and the time they were vacated. Unless we were aware that the facilities had been improved, it is unlikely we would stay here again and in hindsight, we could have driven with ease the additional 100 kilometres to Longreach or simply stayed in the local showground or the free camping area near the town entry point.
Canberra Motor Village – Canberra ACT
Date: 05/07/08
Rating: 2/5
Amenities blocks were in desperate need of attention. Female block was dirty and soiled. Most of the van spaces had excessive slopes and considering this park is close to the centre of Canberra, it is very lacking in our opinion.
Date: 25/02/10 – 26/02/10
Rating: 3.5/5
Amenities blocks were clean (we could not understand why one of the blocks had to be closed for cleaning at 6:00pm although the second block was still available).
Whilst most of the van spaces still have what we consider as excessive slopes, careful use of ramp and positioning of the motor home can result in a level vehicle.
This is close to Canberra CBD. We will stay here again.
Narrabeen Lakeside Big 4 – Narrabeen NSW
Date: 02/08/09
Rating: 4.5/5
Exceptionally clean with probably the largest camping sites we have seen in our travels so far. Will be going back here for a weekend so we can check the entire place out.
Big 4 Bathurst – Panorama Holiday Park
Date: September 2010, 01/08/09, March 2009 & 13/08/08
Rating 4.5/5
We have stayed in this park 5 times and can say nothing other than positives. The park is well laid out, has a pool and excellent BBQ area. The amenities have alway been clean and well maintained.
GWYDIR CARAPARK – Moree NSW
Date: September 2010
Rating 3.0/5
Whilst this park has rfeasonable facilities, it deserves to be rated here as our opinion is that the proprietors attempt to pack as many in as possible in confined spaces. There is an attraction with the thermal pools butr the experience would be better if there was more space given to the camping sites.
Mitchell Caravan Park – Bourke NSW
Date: September 2010
Rating 1.5/5
Clean but old. Amenities block had two toilets and two showers. If staying in Bourke, stay at Kidman Camp at North Bourke.
Last updated 04/10/2010