Tasman Holiday Parks - Kioloa Beach

Some of the sites looked nice, but we were offered an awful one and a couple of other poor options. Much of the back half of the park sits right by the road. Some pitches have no shade at all, and others are so small they have a tree stump in the middle. I'm not sure how you're meant to put a tent there. At $78 a night, being beside the road feels wild. There's no fence, so someone could easily step three metres off the footpath and take things from a site. Even getting hot water in the dirty amenities block costs 20 cents.

Even with the rainy weather, we had a really chilled week. The staff were super friendly and offered to help if they could. We asked for a tent site that wasn't usually busy, since it was shoulder season and we wanted some space from the next site. We didn't realize the sites were already so decent in size, so it wouldn't have mattered. We live by the beach, so beach access wasn't a big deal for us. Our site had a direct view of the playground, which meant we could send the kids over without worrying. I saw comments about the 20c showers. We accidentally timed them at just over three minutes, some ran a little longer. We asked the office for change for the showers and laundry, and they were happy to give us coins. You can also use the pool showers, which were recently renovated. There was WiFi and it worked perfectly for us, but we had no Optus reception. Getting a Telstra SIM before arriving and redirecting my calls to it saved my butt. Can't wait to come back and see the next renovations. Thanks for a relaxing week despite the crappy weather.

We were lucky to see lots of kangaroos hanging around. The location is handy too, with great cafes across the road and shops about five minutes away, including an IGA grocery store, chemist, bakery and bottle-shop. There are powered camping areas, low budget cabins and newer deluxe family cabins. Some dog friendly rooms have an enclosed deck, and the park works well for several families booking together. Facilities include two pools, one for kiddies, a short stroll to the beach, a tennis court, washing machines, clean bathrooms and plenty of BBQ areas and tables. The doggy shampoo machine was a real surprise, with all the fancy cleaning and dryer options. A great holiday park that ticks all the boxes.

The reception staff were really nice on the phone and in person, but I'm upset they told us this was an upgrade. We stayed in the two bedroom lagoon retreat with my husband and four children, and were told there'd be no extra charge. At $428 per night, the cabin was in an extremely run down state inside, with worn furniture and fixtures. I've never seen anything this bad. I'm really upset we stayed. If the weather hadn't been so bad, we would have left. The lagoon looked more like a dirty, muddy, smelly duck pond than the lagoon I expected. The patio BBQ was badly rusted and covered in bird droppings, as was the outdoor table. Inside, the dining table was badly scratched and so sticky, with chewing gum stuck underneath. I had to cover it with our beach towels to eat. The coffee table was sticky too, scratched and looked like it had been picked up from a curb. The lounge felt full of sand. There were two empty chip packets in the lounge and dirty tissues down its side, and the walls and ceiling looked terrible. The TV didn't fit in its unit and had been placed on top, far too high to watch, leaving a big empty space beneath it. The bunk mattress protectors had marks, hair and bugs on them, and my daughter refused to sleep on one. The doona covers on the bunks smelled really bad, and it was obvious they hadn't been washed in ages. We only got two towels for the whole cabin. My husband and I itched in the main queen bed the first night, and the next morning he had a rash all over his arms and chest. I had to wash the sheets and remake the bed for the next night. I saw some cabins that looked neat and had new patio furniture. I was extremely angry that they thought this one was appropriate to rent to young families in that condition. I wish I'd spoken to the park, but I'm not confrontational and my anxiety was through the roof. I would have just broken down in tears. Now that we're home I'm more upset than angry, and still very much on the fence about contacting head office about the state of this cabin. Please do better.