BIG4 Port Douglas Glengarry Holiday Park — Hotel in Mowbray

We booked our stay in “Port Douglas” at this park about 3 / 4 weeks in advance.. (it’s a 10 min drive to Port Douglas). On arrival I overhead a conversation with another customer complaining about how wet the sites were. (We have had a bit of rain in the area, not unusual for this part of Aus). My initial thoughts were I can’t stand people complaining about rain, however on arrival to our site - it was a MUD Pit. In all honesty, it should not have been available. We avoided parking out the front to try help it dry out but in three days (with sun), it did not dry out. Our young children could not play outside as the mud seeped through the TWO mats we had put down - not ideal for a few night stay. I was walking around in gumboots to avoid slipping over. We were parked near the road - which bears minimal security. The walk to amenities is about 250mtrs (up a hill) which was not suitable with a 3YO and 1YO at bathtime (through slippery mud).. We were in site 68 for reference - and all sites nearby to this one get all the rain run off from the park above. Some amenities did not have hand soap (with a toilet?).

The little coffee van near reception does boast good coffee however.

I rely on these reviews when making my own bookings - it’s important for transparency. I’ve taken a few photos of the direct entry to...

We went to the water park . Which is smallish. The operators make you sign a legal waiver for children using the park, to negate liability. There is one pool which is very deep 1.9m at the deep end, there is a water slide which dumps users at the deep end, over 1.8m deep. There are no warning signs on either the slide or pool about the deep water. I had to help a couple of little kids who went down the slide and ended up under the water and couldn't swim . There are no life guards at pool or park, or warning signs. the park does provide a pile of pool noodles which the kids can use. A fun day but serious safety concerns.

Edit- Additional I think what was most concerning about this about 2 months prior to our visit there was near drowning at the park in the same pool. A 3 year old girl was pulled out of the water unconscious by a 5 year old girl. The 3 year old was revived and an ambulance attended. The park well aware of this situation and kept the slide open and added no warning signs or additional signage in January when we visited. While I was there I assisted a number of small children who went down the slide and ended up under the water struggling in water well over...

It has all the things you’d expect from a Big4 - pool, water activities (splash park), playground, jumping pillow. It did seem a little off though, like everything other than the pool were like added on to fit the Big4 style since they were only accessible by walking through the pool area (obviously very wet) or through the road where cars came in. Just a little odd. Also the playground flying fox was so oddly positioned that it must have caused problems because it was chained to a pole and not in use.

Also to have big rocks in the pool area simply felt like a hazard with little kids. I watched a dad playing with his enthusiastic young daughter and there were so many close calls.

We stayed here for 5 nights heading into Port Douglas each day. When we came back after visiting the Daintree we stayed in Mossman Caravan Park and pool which I would stay again if I had to choose between them both. You have to drive into Port Douglas anyway.

A cool thing about this place though is the nearby Mowbray bridge where Mo the local massive croc lives and a viewing platform is set up to look. You also have to drive there. Oh another cool thing about this place is the big...