Coolum Beach Holiday Park

Coolum Beach Holiday Park

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast is a hugely popular destination at any time of the year. Over the years the Sunshine Coast Council has ensured that their caravan parks deliver the traditional services with today’s standards. What that means is that the parks concentrate on powered sites, with just a few cabins for those people who do not have their own accommodation.

CAMPSITES AND CAMPING

Take Coolum Beach Holiday Park, one of the parks under management with Nicole and Jason Filippini. This park, a member of Family Parks, has more than 160 powered caravan sites and more than 60 powered tent sites. They have six cabins on the park, one with two bedrooms, the others with a bedroom plus bunk beds.

A walk around the park shows that the powered sites are big, no two ways about it. Most of the sites easily take a caravan of just about any size, with the annexe out, plus a gazebo and car space.  It is the same with the tent sites. There was plenty of room for the main tent, maybe a pup tent under the awning, a gazebo for outdoor relaxing and space for the car. Some could easily accommodate a large, folding canvas camper trailer.

COOKING FACILITIES

When you check out the park, they have some great in-park features. The camp kitchen is undercover, but open on three sides. There are four barbecues there, plus plenty of fixed tables and benches for up to 32 people and a fridge.

At the same site these is a table tennis table and an outdoor large chessboard. There are also two others sets of two barbecues around the park. And with three amenity blocks scattered throughout the park you are never that far away from one.

FOR THE KIDS

Now, there is no swimming pool on the park, but there are three or four walkways to the beach. Nicole describes this as “The biggest swimming pool in the world.” How can you argue with that? The beach is beautiful, and there are flagged swimming areas on the beach with lifeguards there seven days a week for eight months of the year.

This is, without a doubt, a family friendly park. But there is no playground on the park! And there really is no need for one because about 50 or so metres away there is a playground and a huge skate bowl at Morgan Park.

TOURING COOLUM BEACH

Now that is the kids taken care of, but what about shops, eating out and general living? This whole area of Coolum Beach has had a massive face lift in the past decade or so. The strip shopping is full of places to eat, to buy clothes, shoes, hats, fishing needs, chemists, doctors – whatever you want is almost guaranteed to be there.

There are two main seasons on the Sunshine Coast, winter and Christmas holidays. Many of the winter and Christmas guests have been coming for years and book their site for the following year before leaving. Other attractions popular in winter include the local Bowls Club, the Surf Life Saving Club with its bar and kitchen and the Coolum Civic Centre theatre.

OTHER WATER ACTIVITIES

Coolum Beach and Noosa offers excellent beaches for gentler shores, drive a few minutes north for Stumers Creek, a sandy tributary opening out to sea.

The BLAST Aqua Park Coolum has an aquatic obstacle course for eights to tweens. Or, for bigger kids, try the Oz Ski Resort, a freshwater ski facility offering water ski and wake boarding lessons plus banana boat rides, knee boarding, and tubing.

Admire elevated views of the Sunshine Coast and the Hinterland at Lows Point in town with more atop of Mt Coolum at Mount Coolum National Park. West, enjoy a quiet paddle at the Coolum Creek Conservation Park.

Coolum Beach Holiday Park is a beautiful park, it has big sites, free WiFi, heaps of local attractions and services, and is literally a walk over the sand dunes to the beach. And, it’s on the Sunshine Coast.

— Alison Huth 2018, adapted for the web