This blog post inspired by that we drove past this campsite/resort over the weekend, the kids saw it and immediately started begging to go back, and I realised that I never actually wrote about it although I uploaded photos months ago in an attempt to be organised.

So, Sandstone Point Big 4 – the facilities are amazing. It is more expensive than the camping we usually do, but I guess this is less camping and more a resort style experience. There’s an enormous pool – the weekend we went (back in March) the resort was fully booked out and there was still heaps of space in the pool. There’s a toddlers pool, and a water play area that terrified the Under 5s and delighted the Over 5s. The Under 5s mostly decided it was okay though when the bigger kids kept emerging to tell them how fun and awesome it was.

There is also a playground (designed for older kids, not toddlers) and a jumping pillow. The fire pit was filled with a tree in a pot when we were there (so no marshmallows), although I saw on their website it was set up during winter. There was lots of space for bike riding although we saw a few near misses between kids on bikes and cars/golf buggies while we were there.

Most of the people staying there are staying in cabins or newish caravans that plug into water which means that for those of us staying in less fancy accommodations, the amenities blocks are usually empty. Even at peak shower hour, the showers were only half full. The camp kitchen was also great – we were staying across from one, so I started going across there to use the kettle and toaster, and a microwave – luxurious camping!

That brings us to the downside though, that most people are in caravans, so outside noise probably doesn’t bother them, but for us in our camper trailer, it was noisy on the Saturday night after bed time with kids still running around and riding bikes and scooters past our campsite. Being opposite the camp kitchen also meant that we had the noises of people eating dinner. Nothing too loud, just enough to keep nosy kids awake who was wondering why they need to be in bed when people are still up. Our kids rarely sleep in, and get cranky without the usual amount of sleep, so I was worried about the late bedtime. They were surprisingly cheerful the next day though. A lot of people packed up on Sunday, and it was quiet by Sunday afternoon. There’s a two night minimum booking, and I’m glad we ended up choosing to go Saturday and Sunday nights.

There’s a cafe near the pool, but we decided to head over to the Sandstone Point hotel instead for dinner on our second night. It was busy, but our meals still came quickly, and the kids loved the playground.

Our usual camping is more bush style camping, so this was a bit of a change for us. The adults didn’t like it as much – if  we went back, I’d like to stay in one of the cabins to get around the noisy night and people walking through our campsite issues (I know walking through campsites is a divisive subject on whether it is acceptable or not but people were  so close to our caravan that they were walking under our awning).

All the kids in our group had an amazing time and were asking when we could go back before we left.