Discovery Parks - Coolwaters Yeppoon

My mum booked this cabin for two weeks while she and my three younger siblings, aged 10 to 15, were between homes and had nowhere else to stay. The price was very high for the level of care. For the whole two-week booking with three kids, they left just two toilet rolls, one rubbish bag and one hot chocolate sachet. The bedding still smelled, so Mum had to wash it before anyone had used it, paying nearly $20 for a job the cleaners should have done. Laundry was $18 a load on top of the cabin cost. A cracked tile also hurt Mum, and she taped over it so nobody else would get injured. The way they were made to leave was awful. My younger brother was riding his e-scooter when another child ran into the path. He nearly hit them, fell, swore, probably because he was hurt, and still apologised. The other child’s parents complained to the owner. The owner then evicted my family for 10am the next day, with no earlier warning. Mum was told she’d get a refund, but it wouldn’t arrive until at least the following week. They were left with barely 12 hours’ notice, stranded without money for somewhere else. She’d paid $1,500 a week and got only a very small discount for staying longer. It feels like the cabin could be rented for more by the night after evicting her. There was no action when we complained about a creepy man watching my 12-year-old sister every time she went to the water park. Yet my brother was treated harshly and left in tears, blaming himself for his mum and siblings being homeless. There was also a cracked tile that injured her, and I’ll be reporting that safety issue. The cabin was tiny, and the whole place felt badly managed. Don’t stay here unless you can afford to find somewhere else at short notice if the owner decides to throw you out.

The budget cabin was decent for the money, but a few things dragged the stay down. The hotplate was nearly impossible to cook on: it either burned everything or barely heated it. When it rained, mud got tracked through the cabin because there wasn’t even a basic doormat inside. I can accept that sort of thing in a budget place, but the laundry and dryer prices also felt steep for a caravan park. Then people were cutting palm trees from the roof of our cabin at 7:30 in the morning. That’s early for a holiday park, where guests may still be sleeping. We also lost water for about ten minutes halfway through a shower. It’s a reasonable choice if you’re looking for budget accommodation, but I’d consider other options otherwise.

The cold water was especially rough on my partner, who’s disabled and has back problems. She came out of the pool cold, then had back spasms and nerve pain that bothered her all weekend. It was her birthday, so that was a pretty lousy experience. We had no hot water Friday night. The after-hours maintenance man said a repair would have to wait until morning, agreed the situation was unacceptable, and said the manager was a “cool guy” who would sort something out for the inconvenience. Just after 9 on Saturday, maintenance installed a temporary hot water system to get us through the stay. We appreciated that and expected management to contact us about compensation, but heard nothing. At checkout I raised it with reception. A man came out of the office, possibly the manager, though he didn’t introduce himself, and pointed out that a replacement had been put in Saturday morning. I said yes, but asked about the Friday night and Saturday morning showers. He didn’t reply. The booking also cost twice what the same stay had last year, which made it harder to accept.

We’d been driving all day, so we didn’t question the charge when we checked in for an unpowered site near the amenities. In the morning, we checked the online prices and asked about it: Saturday had been charged at $47, though the standard rate was $30. That $17 increase doesn’t seem right. I’ve sent a complaint to Discover Parks. Not happy with the price jump. Do better, Discovery.