Darlington Beach Resort
Friday, June 08 2007 Filed in:
Gotta Go
Submitted by Steve Baile
Jen with resort manager - Rebecca Lindsay
Always on the lookout for unique places to stay, we had heard about Darlington Beach Resort from a couple of other travelers further up the East coast and decided to check it out. With so many holiday parks in this area to choose from, we were looking for one that stood out by offering something special to their guests.
Driving into the park past the lagoon and palm trees, the strong environmental focus of the owner and staff was immediately obvious with lots of trees and grass with ducks and peacocks roaming the grounds.
The mission of the resort is to integrate their facilities into the environment as much as possible and they have succeeded in their goal with the facilities set amongst 110 acres of native bush land beside the sea. The park is surrounded by National Parks with Yuraygir NP to the north and at least a dozen other National Parks and Nature Reserves within an hours drive to the west. This is one of the most biologically diverse areas in Australia and one of only two areas where the Great Dividing Range meets the coast (the other being around Cairns).
The regions traditional inhabitants, the Gumbaingirr, thrived on fish, molluscs, figs, brush cherry, nyum nyum, raspberries, native spinach and black apple. South of the resort you will still find the fish traps used by the aboriginal people and middens which are testimony to the Gumbaingirr peoples utilisation of the area.
The resort is the proud holder of the Silver Gumnut Award for it's efforts at integrating environmental sustainability and community responsibility into its business plan.
The full time horticulturist has established a plant nursery onsite and propagates plants for this resort and others in the group. Around 70% of the plants in the resort are natives. They also have a worm farm which converts much of the organic waste generated by the resort into a rich organic mulch that accelerates the growth of the plants around the resort.
Taking a walk around the resort in the early morning there were plenty of kangaroos, kookaburras and other native animals roaming freely with the peacocks and ducks that call Darlington Beach home.
In the words of Resort Manager, Rebecca Lindsay, "We like to think of Darlington Beach as a destination in itself!". Well, I can't argue with that as we stayed there nearly a week and only ventured out a couple of times for supplies and to check out Coffs Harbour.
Facilities include a cafe (great coffee), restaurant (we had dinner there on roast night - YUM!), convenience store for milk, bread, paper and other must have items, and even a conference centre.
Beach lovers will not be disappointed with kilometres of pristine beach front only a short stroll away and if you are a golf lover then the 9 hole course will keep you busy.
Every Wednesday is Bingo day in the park and people come from all around the area to play. They take it pretty seriously too as we discovered, trying desperately to keep up with the game. You can also try your hand at lawn bowls or tennis if you are so inclined.
To be honest we had trouble dragging ourselves away from the pools (there are 2) and playing on the water slides (yes, 2 of them as well). One of the pools is even heated for us oldies. The pools are surrounded by grass and trees with sun loungers and umbrellas. Luxury!!! They even have a big heated spa that you could probably fit a football team into.
Next to the pool is a jumping pillow, which if you haven't seen one before, is an inflated bag about two thirds the size of a tennis court. The idea is to run up onto it and jump around like on a trampoline. It's great fun and sensational exercise. We even let the kids have a go as well!!!!!
The kids will also like to ride their bikes on the BMX track or have a play in the playground.
Campers can pick their own site from anywhere amongst the trees in the 10 acre camp ground. There is also an undercover camp kitchen with fridges.
There are around 100 powered sites spread out under the trees with many having ensuite bathrooms for a few extra dollars a night (money well spent says Jen!!). While we were there the ensuite site were by far the most popular so I imagine the resort will be building more on other sites soon enough.
At the other end of the scale there are villa units with all of the mod cons, some of which surround the lagoon on the way in that I mentioned earlier.
So in summary, if you are looking for a destination with just about everything you need on site and you want to be close to nature without actually bush camping, then I would certainly recommend Darlington Beach Resort.
More Information
Website - Click here to go to the Darlington Beach Resort website
Trip Log - We stayed there between Day 45 and Day 52 on our Trial Trip which you can read about in our Trip Log.
Address - 104-134 Eggins Drive, Arrawarra NSW 2456
Phone - (02) 4379 9466
Fax - (02) 6649 2480
Email - dbr@obg.com.au
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