Darwin experience

Submitted: Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:04
ThreadID: 87570 Views:3271 Replies:5 FollowUps:11
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My thread last week discussed our displeasure with a caravan park experience at which time someone was evicted after trying to stand up for himself after being verbally abused by a cleaner for using the urinal while she was in the men's toilets. Again, there was no sign or warning she was in there at the time. Now we have left the park, we can say the we would not stay at Coolalinga Caravan Park again. Objectively, the park is poorly maintained with dangerous cement paths (missing in parts) and generally unpleasant surrounds in most of the park. Add to this the Kulu birds who "cry" all night. For all those who will respond saying that I am a whinger, I can say that the said cleaner does do an excellent job. We have also stayed at the Shady Glen CP, and while it is a nicely maintained park with good amenities, the park is close to the airport and a loud metal recycling plant which operates into the night. The service is excellent, but sites are very close together and you feel a bit cramped. We are now trying Lee Point CP and can say I wish we came here in the first place. It is a little dearer/night, but the 7th night is free (not offered by the other two parks). The location is close to shops and hospital and only about 12km from the city. It is a spacious park with older style but good amenities and an excellent pool area. We have not had a problem with midgees which a lot of people have warned us about. We are now looking forward to leaving the city for some NP stays.
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Reply By: Member - Michael and Chris (QL - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:14

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:14
Have you ever stayed in a 5 star hotel, you should give it a go should solve some of your problems. Mick
AnswerID: 459949

Follow Up By: Bigfish - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:27

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:27
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.
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Follow Up By: dazren - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 21:42

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 21:42
Hey ! michael and Chris, Can you please post a list of the caravan parks that you stay at ??? apparently you have not had ANY bad ones ??????
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Follow Up By: Member - Michael and Chris (QL - Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 05:52

Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 05:52
Dazren,
Yes mate I can list all the caravan parks that I have stayed at, none as if I am staying in a city I stay at a hotel as stated above. As for the birds making noise and the broken paths, good luck to them when they stay at a National park, hope there is no birds or uneven ground or unclean toilets for them to use
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Follow Up By: Member - Craig F (WA) - Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 11:05

Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 11:05
I think there is a difference between paying good money for poor service and amenities and free camping.
I have stayed in some shocking places and as someone that travel a fair bit of the world for work you would expect this. The thing that would supprise most is all of my horror stories are from places in my home state (WA). As time away from work is limited I appreciate peoples feed back both good and bad so I can then make a informed desission or look into things a bit more if this look a bit suspect.

Craig
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Follow Up By: Member - Michael and Chris (QL - Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 14:14

Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 14:14
Sorry, I am not big on running down small business operators. I am sure we would get different opinions from others that have stayed at the park. If what was said happened to me I would be off somewhere else stuff the money. Hard to believe someone would drive all the way from Tassie to Darwin, then go back over such a incident. What nowhere else to stay.
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Follow Up By: Off-track - Sunday, Jul 17, 2011 at 00:18

Sunday, Jul 17, 2011 at 00:18
Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but at least it is wit.
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Reply By: Tjukayirla Roadhouse - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:19

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:19
Can I just say that they are "Curlew" birds . .and you will also encounter them in the National Parks. ;-)
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Follow Up By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:55

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:55
Dude.... they are part of being a "tourist" if you dont LOVE the sound they make then you really should stay at home ... no offence meant but they sound so cool, every time we go someware and get to hear them it bring back really good memorys, the owls, the night birds in general are part of the good time away from "home" that we all escape to .....
Cheers :-)
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Follow Up By: Tjukayirla Roadhouse - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 21:22

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 21:22
I love the sound of the Murder Birds ( Stone Curlews) and I used to have a lot of fun with tourists, telling a few tall stories before letting them know what the noise really was .. LOL
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Follow Up By: Fatso - Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 20:23

Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 20:23
There are different views on Curlews. I have heard people complain & even be scared of their call.
Me, I love them & so does the rest of the family. Even my extended family love curlews.
We have recently had 2 take up residence in our front garden. These 2 are very tame & come quite close & though I have been looking at curlews from a distance my whole life, I never realised how beautifully their markings are before.
Last night they were on the front patio about 6 feet from where I was sitting watching TV & they started their calling. We didn't mind that one bit. The best TV show has a hard time beating nature in the ratings in this house.
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Reply By: Motherhen - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:29

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 20:29
Why have you posted this as a new thread rather than a follow up reply on your previous thread?

Motherhen
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Follow Up By: Shaker - Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 18:39

Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 18:39
Seems to be becoming common practice, maybe the moderators should look at it, makes it very hard to follow subjects.
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Follow Up By: Motherhen - Saturday, Jul 16, 2011 at 13:02

Saturday, Jul 16, 2011 at 13:02
Hi Shaker - the Mods used to lock second threads and say put it on first one - but then again, someone has to let them know, and i don't press the Alert Moderator lightly, so just made a subtle hint to the new poster. It fragments topics and makes searching even more difficult.

Cheers

Mh
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Reply By: SIF4X4 - Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 22:08

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 at 22:08
We stayed at Lee Point once and a Python set up camp in our washing machine. I gingerly extracted the python and walked around the park with it twisted around my arm, scaring all the old tourists. That wasn't the park's fault tho.....LOL

Personally, these days we are totally self sufficient and give caravan parks a wide berth
AnswerID: 459960

Reply By: Member - Desert Storm (QLD) - Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 09:01

Friday, Jul 15, 2011 at 09:01
Not so grey,

we have just completed a trip in Darwin and stayed at hidden valley cp. i can definately reccomend it to anyone. it was a bit cramped due to the holiday season, but the facilities were great, and the ground was quite even enough for our hard floor ct. they even had a solo guitarist playing twice a week between 4-5pm. you just bring your drinks and chairs onto the green grass area and relax to some old time music. on check in you get a little welcome bag with Darwin information. they even had a little cafe there that was sufficient to have a meal at if you couldnt be bothered to cook. we didn't do the cafe thing, and just had cooked every night except for sunday night where we went to the Mindil beach markets and some of the best natural oysters i have ever had. got to have a little treat after the gulf track!
anyway, give the hidden valley cp a go.

John
AnswerID: 459978

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