LAKE MARABOON HOLIDAY VILLAGE (AU$3): 2021 Prices & Reviews (Emerald) - Photos of Campground

About

4.5

Excellent

162 reviews

#1 of 11 Speciality lodging in Emerald

Location

Cleanliness

Service

Value

Water lovers rejoice - this park is for you. Lake Maraboon is set on the banks of Fairbairn Dam, overlooking the tranquil waters of Lake Maraboon, no less than three times the size of Sydney Harbour. This magnificent location is sure to delight, with endless aquatic pursuits including fishing, swimming and water skiing. Lake Maraboon is fishing heaven, with eight different kinds of fish to catch - but most famous for its plentiful Red Claw Crayfish.Lake Maraboon is midway between Rockhampton and Longreach, under seven hours from Townsville and close to Emerald. The Sapphire Gemfields and coal-mining town of Blackwater are under an hour away.

Property amenities

Free parking

Pool

Restaurant

Fishing

BBQ facilities

Self-serve laundry

Room features

Air conditioning

Kitchenette

Microwave

Refrigerator

Flatscreen TV

Good to know

HOTEL CLASS

Location

Full view

Contact

Fairbairn Dam Access Road & Selma Road Central Highlands, Emerald, Queensland 4720 Australia

Getting there

Emerald Airport14 kmSee all flights

Rental CarsSee all Emerald car hire

See all nearby hotels

162Reviews3Q+A21Room tips

Reviews

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Gai P wrote a review Aug 2021

9 contributions2 helpful votes

Would not recommend.

This Holiday Park had generally good reviews but in hindsight we should have stayed in Emerald, which we were considering. It is 25 minutes out of Emerald and unless you like catching red claw in Fairbairn Dam, there is nothing else to see or do. Our major issue was our campsite. Be warned to check your campsite before paying. We were given site 81 which was very hard to manoeuvre into and probably the smallest site in the park. I had pre booked 2 nights; we didn't just arrive and paid $35 per night for a powered site, like others. After we had set up we walked around the park and both days we were there, there were plenty of much larger sites with some views of the lake. We did consider asking to be moved, but once you're on a site and set up, it is inconvenient. My husband asked if I was rude on the phone when booking - no, I was very pleasant and polite. Perhaps that is taken advantage of?? The reception and restaurant were at the other end of the park. The water had to be boiled before drinking, the laundry nearby was very small with only 2 washers, 1 dryer and no sink. There was a line up for it and my black clothes were covered in lint after washing. We like to support places so ate at the Cafe there and again food was disappointing. There needed to be a dipping sauce with the calamari and redclaw as they were crumbed and the calamari was dry. The redclaw was quite moist. The garlic cream red claw pizza had a hard, overcooked base and little filling. My strawberry daiquiri was good. Prices were reasonable but quality of food needs improving.…

Date of stay: August 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple

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Response from Melanie Walsh, General Manager at Lake Maraboon Holiday Village

Responded 8 Sep 2021

WOW! Out of the entire park all you found enjoyable was a strawberry daiquiri? That's a shame. Friendly staff? quiet location? Nice bird life. Firstly, the drive from Emerald is 15 - 25 minutes depending which way you come. Site 81 is definitely not the smallest site in the park, its a shame that you didn't speak up upon seeing your site, because we could have given you alternative options if you had of spoken up. We have had a couple of new people in the office so they are still learning where to put people. (So NO, if you were friendly on the phone that doesn't mean you have been taken advantage of?) At the top end of the park, yes there is 2 washers & 1 dryer, if you had of looked on the end of the amenities block you would have seen the sink. Yes there was an issue with the drinking water, but this was out of our control (SunWater treats our water and they were having issues with the chlorination levels) I suggest in your future travels that you speak up when you have the chance, so the park staff actually have the opportunity to rectify your issues and to save negative reviews like this one because it is very disheartening to read ALL those negative things.

Jack B wrote a review Aug 2021

Southport, Australia150 contributions42 helpful votes

Caravan stop over

A very well spaced out Caravan Park. Right beside the lake in a peaceful setting. Easy to park and set up as there is plenty of space for each site. Even homemade pizza is delivered to the van! away from the highway, so no Road train noises. we did stay in our Caravan, but cabins are available including wheelchair access.

Date of stay: August 2021

Value

Rooms

Service

Room Tip: actually we stayed in our Caravan, what most people here are doing.

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Katherine B wrote a review Jul 2021

1 contribution

Too greedy to provide proper service during Covid.

Really bad experience. Far too few amenity facilities given the large number of vans clustered around each site. Toilets were not regularly cleaned. Female toilets completely out of toilet paper with paper all over the floor and very dirty. Male toilets had paper but very dirty. Staff shortages blamed but they continued to cram as many vans in as possible each day. Completely unacceptable standard of hygiene and cleanliness during Covid. The sites are very small with vans almost touching back to back. Would not go to this park again.

Date of stay: July 2021

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Response from Melanie Walsh, General Manager at Lake Maraboon Holiday Village

Responded 12 Jul 2021

Katherine, Greedy is a rude and disgusting word to use for our family run business. YES WE ARE SHORT STAFFED, JUST LIKE MOST OF AUSTRALIA, you can thank Job Seeker for that. We had a temporary cleaner here for 1 week which was when you must have stayed, she is no longer working for us. When things are forgotten like toilet paper, all you have to do is see the office and we will rectify that straight away. As for us being short staffed but still being able to "CRAM" caravans in, what a ridiculous comment to make. Last year we had NO travellers, now that things have opened back up you are whinging because we are busy? We told guests over the phone we were booked out, (like the other parks in Emerald) and they pleaded with us to find them somewhere safe to park for a night or two with facilities. If we were to turn away people like that and forcing them to travel while potentially being fatigued, that isn't a very kind thing to do! We strongly recommend you go home, or travel to places during their off peak season. Otherwise you can come here for a one week work experience, then perhaps you will rethink before slamming a Holiday Village trying its best to survive during this tough time.

From_a_LandDownunder wrote a review Jun 2021

Sydney, Australia115 contributions57 helpful votes

Loved this place, wished we had time to stay longer, will be coming back for sure

We spent one night here in our Motorhome during a 5,300kms road trip from NSW Central Coast and back, and stumbled upon this gem of a place, wished we had more tim eto stay and explore the area and enjoy the location, we arrived reasonably late in the evening and when my wife checked us in she discovered that she could order pizza which was delieverd to our motorhome at a time she desired for dinner, how cool is that. We took a stroll down to the lake and learnt a bit about Red Claws, we had an inflatable and electri outboard in the motorhome so wished we had time to get out onto the lake and catch some of these tasty critters but due to time constraints had to make do with them on one our Pizzas instead, delicious ! We will definitely plan to return and spend much more time here in the future…

Date of stay: May 2021

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Shirley P wrote a review Jun 2021

24 contributions2 helpful votes

Nice quiet park

We stayed 4 nights in powered site. It was vey cramped neighbours extremely close. There were many vacant sites so didn’t understand why 3 vans had to be side by side. Very few sites have lake views. Amenities good and clean. Staff pleasant. Nice bar area. $35 night for powered site which I thought bit much. We had the red claw pizza one night was ok but bit tasteless of course the meat would be frozen. Obviously very popular for people want get red claw.

Date of stay: May 2021

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Response from Melanie Walsh, General Manager at Lake Maraboon Holiday Village

Responded 12 Jul 2021

Hello, Thanks for your review. We have never had a comment before of our pizza being "tasteless" The meat obviously does come frozen and it can be very expensive to purchase. The sites at the front end of the park are older - they were built back when most caravans were 17ft. The back end of the park has all the larger sites which were built 5 years ago, this is where we put most people so they can have a larger spot. However if you travel during peak season it is expected that you will have neighbours, but we do encourage people to let us know straight away if they would prefer a different site so we can rectify that. Unfortunately we cannot have any more lake view sites, the rest of the land is owned by SunWater which is Government property. So its physically impossible. I'm sure when you travel more you will find that $35 is cheap for a powered / water site for 2 adults, the average park these days are anywhere from $38 - $65 per night. We as a family owned operated business bought the Holiday Village 7 years ago, and lowered the price from $38 to $35 and also offer G'Day members 10% off. So we are cheap.

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