NRMA Darlington Beach
HALEY PERKINS, the first lucky winner in our BIG4 holiday competition, got adventurous with her three littlies on a trip to one of Coffs Harbour’s most-loved camping spots.
A lucky winner from our BIG4 competition takes you inside her family’s camping adventure to Coffs Harbour
As a single mother with three kids under five, all I want in a holiday is an affordable chance to get away with my children. To help this happen, I bought a pop-top caravan to assist our adventures. Having not camped for some 18 years, with no towing experience and three toddlers along for the ride, I was beginning to feel I was set for disaster. The kids were so excited to try out the new “cubby house on wheels”… so the pressure was really on.
NRMA Darlington Beach Holiday Park ticked all the boxes for us. It had a playground and jumping pillow for the kids, games room, pool for everyone, a restaurant/café for easy meals, a lovely natural bush setting with abundant wildlife and wonderful sites and facilities.
A warm welcome
Right from the start I was impressed with the helpfulness of the lady that took my booking. She suggested I get the groundsperson to assist with reversing the van onto the site – something I hadn’t even considered.
Upon arrival, staff behind the desk made me – and more importantly, my children – feel very welcome. The arranged groundsman went far beyond the call of duty, offering to help me set up the pop top and also bringing over a picnic table for us to use on our site. I didn’t take him up on his offer to help set up the van, however, he insisted that he’d come back in half an hour to see how we were going with it. Sure enough, half an hour later he returned to see how we were going… and much to my surprise, we were doing very well!
Animal kingdom
Within moments of finishing setup we were visited by at least 30 lorikeets, an amazing event for the kids. The birds were very friendly and sat well-behaved on the kids’ heads and hands… the little ones were over the moon, declaring it the best place ever.
The kids grabbed their bikes and we headed off to check out the sights and facilities, but only metres away we were greeted by a large group of kangaroos, just lying there unfazed by our presence.
I was starting to relax by this point. The van was parked and went up without a hitch, and the kids were happy and having a great time. We had a lovely shady ensuite site which was much larger than I thought it would be.
We stayed a total of three nights, and it was never a struggle to find things to keep the kids entertained. It was all there: the games and activity room, the night-time movies, jumping pillow and playground, and a massive pool.
I can honestly say this make- or-break adventure for our little family was a big ‘MAKE’ thanks to the wonderful team at Darlington Beach. They helped us fall in love with our little cubby house on wheels – and it will now be a yearly escape for our family – our little piece of paradise away from home.