Our Trip to Airlie Beach 2024 as a family of 5

Our family trip to Airlie Beach 24/25

Every year we pack up the car, the van and the kids and we set off on a trip somewhere in this beautiful country we call home. Granted we haven’t gone “too” far just yet, we will eventually reach everywhere! This year was super exciting though as we were testing out heaps of new gear we are looking to launch this year and they all worked an absolute treat!

Last year we went South, so this year we decided to go North. However I think when I booked I didn’t realise it was stinger season and that meant that all the beautiful beaches you go to, you cannot actually swim in the water.

But we know now for next time.

I know a lot of people told us how hot it would be and look it was, but I wouldn’t say it was any hotter than days we get here in Brisbane?

Plus we were staying at the best water park in Airlie so we were more than fine.

With three little kids we have discovered 6 hours driving in a day is the absolute MAX we can get out of them and that is fine with us.

Our first stop on the trip was at a simple Hipcamp at Baffle Creek.

It was a really nice stop. The Host’s were super welcoming and showed us to our spot. The grass was super green and well kept. The sites we really well spaced out so we all had plenty of our own space. There was a dam that we saw heaps of people throwing crab pots and lines in but we didn’t as this was a quick over nightery for us. We would have been happy to stay a few nights though as it was a great little spot.

In the late afternoon a mob of kangaroos filled the area behind us and the kids loved seeing them in their natural element so close by.

Day two we were up early and hightailed it to stop 2, Barra Crab.

Now we had heard heaps about this place and it came highly recommended but if I’m completely honest I was a bit disappointed. That might come from my own expectations but it just wasn’t that great for us.

The ground was dirt and rocks, next to no grass. The spots were fairly close together but definitely not the worst we have experienced. But because of this it felt super hot at camp because no breeze could make its way through.

The beach was nothing like we have close to home, it was full of those little shells and rocks that make the sand look dirty and hard to walk on. We did see some turtles in the water which was cool but that’s as good as it got. If you have a boat this is the place for you, but for us and the kids it just wasn’t.

Us girls did go down to the bar and sit and have a drink kid free which was nice and they had some live music later that night. We were suppose to stay for 3 nights but because there was nothing for us to do we ended up leaving early and getting into Airlie BIG4 for an extra night (this was just by luck!)

Our whole trip was planned around our stay at Airlie Big4. Our kids are huggge pool and slide lovers and frankly so are we. Given it was a 12 hour hike from home we booked to stay for 10 nights, which obviously turned into 11 with our extra night.

We loved it. Plain and simple. The powered van site we were on was okay sized. Tight to get into but one we were in it didn’t feel like we were too close to our neighbours.

The slides were a bit dated compared to all the images you see online but they still work the same. I must admit I was wildly disappointed that there was no bar at the pool. I was fangin for a poolside pinacolada while my kids tore up the slides but I had to settle to enjoy this while they did laps on their bike at camp instead.

They had a full holiday schedule which I can imagine becomes only more great as your kids get older and can go off and do them, themselves.

Amenities were clean and easy to find and there was always staff walking around cleaning and tidying up.

A few things we did in while in Airlie

Friends we were with wanted to head to Hamilton Island for the day and we questioned whether we wanted to go or not but decided to join in on the day.

In hindsight we would have been happy to give it a miss.

Firstly the boat the park booked us in on didn’t exist so we arrived at the terminal and then had to wait around for an hour until the right boat arrived.

Controlling 5 kids in a boat terminal with nothing to do is a very stressful task.

Once we arrived at the island we got the shuttle to the main hotel and pulled up a seat by the pool. Now don’t get me wrong it was lovely, the pool and swim up bar were great and we did in fact have a good time but it cost us about $400 to get there and all we could do really was go to the pool. It included lunch at a pub on the island too but it was an expensive day to swim in a pool!

The boys headed on a fishing charter and they had a great time. Caught dinner for us and the fish was incredible. The kids couldn’t get enough!

Us girls enjoyed a massage at a local pallor and then enjoyed lunch at Paradiso. Cocktails were fabulous!

We spent a day at the Airlie Beach Lagoon. It was a good day but the water was warm, bath like. The kids had a great time though because they could walk most of the way so it was a fairly hands off swim which was nice for us parents.

We went to Bowen for the day and stopped to see the big Mango and of course enjoyed some fresh gelato while there. When I say gelato I’m pretty sure it was just frozen mango but it was still delicious on a warm day!

We went for a drive to Hansen Park and walked along the beautiful beach here. It was such a tease that we couldn’t go for a swim, especially on this day as it was fkin hot!

After there, we found Bowen Water Park and let the kids run for 40 minutes to burn the batteries a little. Down the road from there was a fish and chip shop that will forever hold a place in my heart due to it’s DELCIOUS food. It was called Birds Fish Bar and I highly recommend. It had a little play space for the kids and we saw a huge ass fish swimming in the water right next to us while we sat on the deck out the back eating!

My two biggest highlights from our out of park adventures in Airlie would be the arvo we spent at Northerlies. You book the shuttle through their website and they pick you up from the front of the park AND drop you back. Its dangerous…

But we arrived and it was truly stunning. It’s a hotel/pub/restaurant whatever you want to call it situated on the beach front with incredible views no matter where you sit. We were lucky enough to get a bit table right on the waters edge for the whole afternoon. There were kids everywhere on the sand collecting shells and playing together while we sat back drinking coconut margs (which were perfection) eating all sorts of delicious things. By the time we left we were all extremely happy and called ahead to order pizza from the truck at the park for dinner. It was a 10/10 afternoon and wish we had time to go back again.

My second highlight would be our morning at Cedar Creek Falls Reserve. It was a 30 minute drive from the BIG4 and it was incredible. The water was fresh, clear and the waterfall was FLOWING. We stayed for about 3 hours it was so beautiful. By lunch it started to become really packed so I would absolutely suggest heading there early. It was also really nice to swim in some water that wasn’t full of chlorine… after this we went to Goorganga Plains which is a croc lookout. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any crocs but apparently if you go at night time you can see their creepy eyes in the water with the lights from your car!

After Airlie we were suppose to go to Rollinstone but we got some really bad news about our dog so we had to hightail it home as quickly yet safely as we could.

On the way home we stopped into Tannum Sands Discovery Park for the night. I’ve seen a few posts about this park on the Caravan pages but I didn’t rate it and I probably wont be back…

I don’t know why, it just felt uneasy and I felt like I had to make sure everything was locked 3 times over…

That’s about where our trip ended. We were gone for 15 days. It wasn’t long enough but like I said, we will be back!

The products we tested have all be put into full production and I cannot wait to share them with you, as I know you will love them just as much as we do.