Reflections Eden - Holiday Park — Hotel in Eden

We've stayed in cabins in several caravan parks in Eden over the last 5 years.

Eden Reflections: Pros: Location. You can hear the ocean waves. However you can't see the beach/ocean, nor can you really see the lake on a other side, from inside the park. Management seemed nice enough; however in all fairness we didn't see or have much contact with them. Clean grounds & cabins. Awesome birds!!

Cons: The cabin we rented can sleep 6-7 people (1 BR with queen bed, 1 BR with 2 sets of bunk beds, & 1 couch.). It was the 2nd most expensive cabin to rent here.

Our cabin was advertised as spacious, however we were quite disappointed at how very small it really was.

#1 - Main bedroom

Only has less than 1 foot of space inbetween each side of the bed & the walls. There isn't enough room for 2 small night stands so instead they cut 2 smaller triangle pieces of wood & mounted them to the walls.

The foot of the bed is so close to the small wardrobe that it only allows just enough room for the wardrobes small doors to open. Meaning your legs or whatever get in the way & renders the wardrobe totally useless, or @ best quite annoying & cumbersome to use.

There is only 1 power outlet in the main BR next to the wardrobe @ the foot of the bed. So if you have to sleep w/ a C-pap machine, or you want/need any other electrical device next to your bed, you will need an extension cord - which then also becomes a tripping and safety hazard due to the limited walking space inbetween the bed & walls.

#2 The bathroom Is the tiniest bathroom in any caravan park in Eden we have rented. It is the tiny size of most caravan or motorhome bathrooms. (The Ensuites in the paid powered caravan sites are bigger & nicer here.)

There is a small space saving worn PLASTIC sink w/ vanity. A small 700mm x 800mm shower w/ shower curtain. There is 600mm in space where a standard toilet sits inbetween the bathroom sink & a towel rail on the wall. Normally there is 900mm of space allowed for a standard toilet.

Our toilet was somewhat broken. One of the flush buttons was completely missing & the other kept on getting stuck down when you flushed. Showerhead dripped & didn't want to stay up.

#3 - Kitchen Only has a stovetop, with NO oven. The banksia cabin we stayed at here a few years ago did have a lower grill, but it didn't really work, but nice outdoor bbq areas.

#4 Power Outlets There are only 5 power points in the cabin, 1 per bedroom & bathroom, 1 near the roof in the dining/living area, & 1 in the kitchen.

#5 COMBINED - Eat in/Living areas There is a 3 seat couch on 1 wall, a good sized wall mounted TV on other wall, & a 6 seat kitchen table & chairs in between the couch & TV. This makes the living area, or feel or sense of a living area, almost non-existent.

#6 Price - Average $$ For approx. for $2 LESS per night for 2 adults you can stay in the most expensive cabin @ the Gateway Holiday Park in Eden that has a larger main bedroom w/ queen bed & functional wardrobe, 1 bedroom w/ bunk beds, a large 2 person spa bathroom, a larger kitchen w/ stove & oven, a seperate living room with 2 couches, eat in area, & porch. Additional pros are a non heated in ground pool, outdoor jumping pillow, & petal 4 wheel carts. Con: You are a 3-5 minute drive from the ocean.

For approx $11 MORE per night for 2 adults you can stay in the most expensive cabin @ the Beachfront Holiday Park in Eden that has a larger main bedroom w/queen bed & functional wardrobe, 2nd bedroom with bunk beds, both bedrooms adjoin to the nice n acceptably sized bathroom, separate toilet room, nice kitchen with stovetop & oven, seperate living area with an L shaped couch, & eat in area. You also have a NICE personal bbq & small cooking area on your own porch @ no extra cost. The ocean & beach are literally right outside your cabin door & you have full views of the beach & ocean. There is an outdoor jumping pillow, tennis & volleyball courts, & a nice large indoor public cooking & entertainment area. This is also the caravan park in Eden that is closest to the...

Eden. The name alone brings images of paradise. That unspoiled garden, away from the rest of the world. Reflections is close, but no cigar. This is a Caravan Holiday Park. So if being lined up like terraced houses is your thing, then you'll love the site. That's not our thing. The worst thing when camping in a tent is to be on a treeless field, crammed between a trailer tent on one side, and a stag party on the other.

Access to the site is paved highway, virtually to the site itself.

Fortunately the unpowered sites at Eden are somewhat screened by small clumps of vegetation, and right on the lake. We were on the left side of a clump of 3 sites, that seemed to be about 5x8m . Plenty of space, but adjoining sites. The views of the lake at sunset were worth it. The Beach is about a 100m walk North, out the entrance and across the road.

Amenities in a franchised site like this are spotless. There is a code to get in, which causes hilarity late at night/early morning when you're, shall we say, inebriatedly indisposed, and desperate for a pee. It's hard enough to focus on the combination lock, let alone remember the code. I suspect the code is in place to dissuade day trippers to the beach from using the camp facilities, which makes sense. But it appears a little heavy handed. Considering the shower is better than most will have at home, and the cleanliness is second to none, the code is a minor inconvenience.

We were there at the beginning of summer, before school holidays. So the park was largely empty. Only one other tent on an unpowered site next to us, and probably about 30% occupancy mostly campervans, with a couple of caravans, and one trailer tent in the powered section. This covers most of the park. Still, the ambience wasn't Paradise so much as pre-retirement village parking.

This is all forgiven for the amazing price of $26, for a lake front site. Easy access to the beach, close to town, and amazing service. I could imagine this being great (if busy) with a family in the summer if you want to be close to the beach.

Access: 5 Ambience: 3 Cost:...

We contacted this caravan park over a week before we intended to stay there. They didn't answer their phone, so I left a message. I also contacted them electronically. A nice sounding polite lady called us back & confirmed that we were after a powered site. I offered to pay then and there over the phone or internet but she told us there was no need to book or pay in advance. I explained to her that we were going to be driving down from Sydney & may well be late getting in, likely after hours. She responded by saying that that's ok, they're open till 8pm & we can always just call them on our way down if we're going to be coming in after hours & they'd sort it out with us. Sure enough, we end up getting delayed & look like arriving closer to 9pm. So we call them a couple of hours before, but no answer. That's ok, call back half an hour later, still no answer, but leave a message. Got a call back after 8pm from a rudely sarcastic bloke who says "We're not the Hilton" and that they'll be closed up & be gone well before the time we get there. So he tells us to find somewhere else! I still can't believe he has the nerve to call me back after their office has closed and speak to me as if I was unorganised & I was asking some kind of favour, then reneg on our earlier agreement & tell us to go elsewhere. And then he has the nerve to suggest we stay there tomorrow night! Similar arrangements had been pre-organised with another caravan park in Albury a few days ago, but they actually had no problems with it. We paid in advance over the phone & called prior to the office closing to find out which site we'd been designated....