BIG4 Carnarvon Gorge Holiday Park — Hotel in Rewan

Service paid for was not provided. Management chose to conduct the bat dispersal program without ensuring guests received any prior warning. This affected guests' ability to get more than a couple of hours sleep per night, if they were lucky. Fumes caused respiratory discomfort. MSDS for cotton oil - intended for use in cosmetics only. Citronella, if inhaled take to fresh air and provide respiratory assistance if needed. Eye irritant. Diesel, shocking implications. Too many to list. Management chose to charge people full price to stay in accommodation where noise and environmental pollution would clearly affect them without any contact to advise of situation or providing option to cancel booking. A matter for Fair Trade for anyone who wants to take it further. Despite all of this, management chose to insult each and every person who writes an honest review of what they experienced. There is no apology, just placing blame on guests for not understanding why they chose to hire out accommodation that did not provide the service promised. I did not find the large group who have written reviews rude. They were very understanding and complied when we asked them to keep it down a bit. Management however have written insulting responses. This is a historical complaint spanning years, so stay at your own risk. Management couldn't care less about your comfort. They're only lining their pockets. Shameful. Atrocious. Overall, complete lack of concern for health and wellbeing of patrons. First night we were welcomed by the sound of what can only be described as jet engines. After hours of this the noise stopped at some ungodly hour only to start up again at 3ish. So, we got about 2.5 hours sleep. Little did we know this would be a good night's sleep with what was to come. Went bushwalking. Came back, jet noise started again for hours. People started playing music at 10.30, very noisy. Finally all this stopped. Got about an hour of sleep and that jet noise started again. Drifted off, woke in the dark to the sound if gunshots and woohooing. Stumbled out of bed in complete shock. Raced out, strange smelling, eye burning, lung irritating smoke rising out of the bush a couple of metres in front of our deck, bats flying in complete panic. Ah, the penny dropped. Chasing out protected animals and seemingly enjoying every second of firing those guns and blasting smoke everywhere. Daylight came noise etc stopped So, realising we weren't about to be murdered, needing some much sleep decided to get a nap in. Thinking I'm having a nightmare about the last couple of nights, imagine my surprise to wake realising that nightmare was real. Trees this protected animal had roosted in were being felled in a property backing onto a national park, prob about 6 that day. Watched the whole thing. Birds and bats flying jn a panic. Little did we know this nightmare would get even worse. Went to reception asked if we could be moved since we were in the firing line literally. Other people were there to report that a branch had fallen through their annex due to panicked animals. No, we could not be moved and no and the smoke is all natural stuff so we shouldn't be getting irritated eyes and coughing. Yeah, right. Stank like diesel, citronella and bleach. Next night same thing, but rather than gunshots were woken by more trees being felled at about 5ish am. Still, a good night in hindsight. So, last night the real nightmare began. About 5pm, the hellish jet engine irritating smoke machines started. Smoke and fumes was billowing out a couple of metres in front of us, seeping into the glamping tent. We blocked it off with doonas but still itchy eyes and coughing. The jet engine fume smoke machines continued ALL NIGHT. We rang to advise we had a 9-hour drive today and they had some responsibility to ensure we got some sleep. No reply. The gunshots during the night and some hellish sonic type noise on top of the jet engine fume smoke machine was the only response we...

Carnarvon Gorge itself is breathtakingly beautiful, yet so remote and so good accommodation adds to the enjoyment of the experience.

The nearest town is Rolleston and this isn’t a reliable town for food supplies or fuel. You are better off stocking up in Blackwater or Emerald (or if you’re super organised Rockhampton).

We stayed in the Deluxe cabin which comes with a deluxe price tag.

The Deluxe cabins appear to be fairly new in design are quite nice after a long day out walking through parts in and around the gorge.

Pros: modern comfy cabin 1 queen bed / 1 sofa bed rainfall shower head plus hand held shower head location to gorge (being within 5kms) wifi is good / reliable phone reception at accommodation welcome snacks and note wildlife in and around the park lots of in room storage air fryer (if that’s your thing) microwave stove fridge kitchen utensils and settings for four people 2 x air conditioning units and 2 x fans firewood supplied for the personal fire pit bar and dining area (paid)

Cons For a one week stay this is what we experienced 1 x toilet role 4 x tea bags (3 had bugs) 3 x coffee sachets 2 x garbage bags (we luckily had brought our own) no oven baking trays 2 towels for an entire week

Big4 features not on offer. Only 2 of 4 items which was the peddle bikes and giant jenga. Examples usually include tennis courts, jumping pillow, playground, basketball hoop, games room (varies for things like table tennis or paid games), pump track, swimming pool, waterslide.

broken fly screen (on the only door). Forced to keep the glass door shut or invite in the abundance of insects (well aware insects are part of the bush).

air conditioner near impossible to use. One didn’t go back on (after the initial power off) for the entire weeks stay.

no guides for using aircon and the incorrect guide for the stove, no guide for the air fryer (I don’t use one)

stove was near impossible to operate. Only one hob would work at a time.

absolutely no customer service (prior to staying had had positive interactions). We phoned about tea bags after one of us went to purchase them from the shop and none were in stock. Reception was rude and brought over four replacement bags telling us we need to buy tea bags. The son of the management snapped at one of us and reiterated the point. Settle down mate. We’d just spend $7.50 for the baby sized coffee. I was thankful I found my personal stash of tea bags I’d packed after this incident.

I phoned about the aircon, stove and fly screens a few times after 4pm and one time at 11am. I got no response and gave up. There option is to go to reception and use a UHF radio after hours which seems a bit extreme.

I checked out early having left at 3pm the day prior to my booking. I needed to attend to something. The two women at reception didn’t ask anything about my stay, show concern for my reason for leaving, nothing. It was honestly weird. At $310 night (I think it was more for peak time), you wouldn’t you be a bit curious?

Overall, it wasn’t what I’ve experienced at other Big4 branded accommodation.

Big4 managed to add a fee to this booking despite attempting to book this on the Breeze Holiday Parks website. After ended up spending $50 for what was supposed to be a complimentary membership and whatever I paid in additional fees to Big4 for no real benefit, I would advise ringing booking directly with the park.

The park is fine and if I was doing this trip again I would probably stay here again.

My biggest disappointment is the Deluxe experience didn’t really happen. Given the substantial jump in price compared to a Takka tent or camping, management has a fair opportunity for improvement. The customer service and the frustrations about comfort features...

So much potential here for a five star review. Several little things kept knocking it down for us and we end up at 3 star overall. If you read no further then the nutshell is don't book an economy cabin. The newest luxury cabins are pricy but look good and the reviews are good. If you have camping gear and can camp that is likely your best bet. But if you are travelling and need accommodations like we were, then she'll out for a high end cabin, or just stay in one of the permanent tents on site. Our economy cabin was acceptable at best and definitely not good value for the money.

If you want more details... keep reading.

The good:

Excellent location. Carnarvon Gorge is minutes away. Full Season! - We stayed in March during off season (no other camping or accommodation was even open at this time so our only decision was what level of accommodation to get). Lots of options all the way from basic tenting up to fairly high end new cabins. Good power and water. Perfectly decent shared cooking facilities with grills, burners, toasters, kettle, microwave and even a pizza oven. The grounds were mostly well kept. Staff that we met were all nice.

The bad (for our unit).

Our "economy" cabin was about $200 per night. Like I said above no one else is open so you pay to see the spectacular Carnarvon Gorge. $200 would be ok for what we got in this location if everything was in good condition, updated, and some thought had been put into even the basics but it wasn't. The sliding door to the unit has damaged tracks so the outside door doesn't really work well. The toilet was loose from the floor. The shower floor felt really saggy (like possibly rotted wood sub-flooring under the shower pan which might also explain the toilet problem). The sink, and space for it, are so small that it was difficult to use. The bed was only ok. It really could benefit from a replacement or at least a good matress topper. Ironically one of the most difficult things for guests would be the easiest and cheapest to fix for the owners ... There are almost no shelves or hooks anywhere in the unit to put your stuff up! People are here to hike the Gorge! But to get organized you have to spread everything out on the bed. Then to use the bed you have to throw everything on the floor! The bedside tables were fine for phones, wallets, keys, etc. But because the bathroom has no shelving (or room for it) even your toiletries end up on the floor or on your suitcase which has to sit in the chair if you want to be able to get in and out of it! Basically just no thought was put into how any guest older than a back-packer might want or need to use the space.

The bad (for the park in general).

The trail to the look-out ( which does have a beautiful view) could use a little repair. As could the table at the viewpoint. The trail along the creek and viewing area where the platypus might be seen also could use a little more maintenance. The creekside trail could be a nice little area if it was maintained, and perhaps it is in peak season when guests might be using the swimming hole, but at the moment it is stagnant and there is very little access to the creek side.

The bottom line:

Off season this is your only option, and for that it is great that at least one option exists and the owners deserve compliments for making the Carnarvon Gorge accessible all year round. I also suspect from our looking around that this facility is entirely off grid for all services, and again if that is accurate, then well done for providing full services at a facility of this size.

I think that the value here is in going full luxury, or keeping it as basic as you can. The middle ground is just not...