 “Now this is camping,” exclaimed my 10-year-old daughter as we set foot inside our luxury spa cabin nestled by the river at Gerroa Shores Holiday Park on the NSW South Coast.
But it’s clearly nothing like the camping I’m used to – no dirt, no cramped spaces, no bedraggled sleeping bags or rapidly deflating airmats, no assembly problems and no fuss.
Instead, our ‘tent’ – a plush 4.5-star driftwood cabin – is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, with lovely views over the serene and aptly-named Crooked River just five minutes walk from the beach.
They call this ‘glamping’ and I can see why. The girls (and the wife for that matter) are suitably impressed by the glam and isn’t that half the buzz of a great family holiday? If the kids are happy, the parents are happy!
Our stylish home away-from-home has everything that opens and shuts – a fully-equipped gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances (including a dishwasher), a TV, CD and DVD player, a body-massaging shower, toiletries, air-conditioner, shiny hardwood floors, two bedrooms (one with twin beds for the kids), a big open deck with a BBQ facing the river and the big drawcard – a large oval double spa bath in the master bedroom. Throw in all linen, pillows, blankets and towels and you have the most luxurious form of ‘camping’ I’ve ever seen.
If you can’t be bothered with the hassle of camping but like the relaxed informality and fun of a caravan park,  then a cabin like this is the way to go. Of course, they’re called holiday parks now and they’re so much more appealing these days. Gerroa Shores comes complete with a swimming pool, café, kiosk, internet café, bike hire and kids activities.
Beston Parks, which runs Gerroa Shores and 40 other parks around Australia, says 90 per cent of Australians have stayed in a caravan park at some stage in their lives. There are now so many competing accommodation options for holidaying families, but Beson Parks are seeing more and more people coming back to new-look holiday parks which provide great value for money and so much fun.
We had a ball. Crooked River is so shallow you can walk across it (like Jesus as my youngest child remarked), So we biblically strode down the river for five minutes until it emptied onto the magnificent expanse of Seven Mile Beach. Not sure why it’s called that and we never walked its entire length to find out but the gentle slope into the water and the magnificent backdrop of mountains made it a safe and alluring drawcard during our stay in Gerroa, which is not far from Kiama, two-hours south of Sydney.
Kayaks, canoes and paddle boats are available for hire nearby and bushwalks, wineries and dolphin watching on Jervis Bay are not far away either.
Of course you can camp at Gerroa Shores if you have the energy and inclination but for us, ‘glamping’ is the way to go.
The waterfront spa cabins at Gerroa Shores Holiday Park sleep four and are priced from $168 a night (more on weekends and in school holidays).
 
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