Mt Isa Caravan Park

I am 87 years old and have been a widower for the last 6.5 years and lived in Adelaide most of my life. With the exception 2021 when the country was very restrictive about crossing borders, I have looked to spend the winter months in a warmer climate travelling alone in the remotest of the northern areas. We spent 8 years living and working in Darwin in the 70’s where our outback journeys began in a caravan. In those days caravan parks were often only a piece of council or shire land off the main road where you could park your vehicle for the night and facilities were very crude and often unattended, a far cry from what is on offer today. The 80’s began to see private investors setting up the early versions of what we see today as caravan parks, where they put in full time managers and reception facilities. Unfortunately, society has changed immensely since then in many of these areas where you never had to lock up your goods and chattels now plagued by Youth crime in their communities throughout the country as it has become in the capitals of all States. I had a definite objective this year to travel as I have suffered with recurring pneumonia which is getting worse and each time it revisits me the remnants of the disease won’t clean up. So both my cardiologist and lung specialist suggested I seek a warmer climate back at the beginning of June, but before I could pack up and leave I was hospitalised with it for 9 days on an antibiotic drip, and I had other issues with my long term Aged Care Management, so by the time I could leave Adelaide the build up to the wet had arrived and where I intended to go became unsuitable, so I needed to look for a bolt hole between Tennant/Creek and Townsville to provide the climate I needed for at least 3 weeks to clear my lungs and regain my general health. The Barkly Highway was a string of caravans heading east and eventually South for many, so there were no opportunities until I drove into Mt Isa where I noted the direction the prevailing wind on the copper smelting stack was drivng the smoke, so I went through city toward Cloncurry until I found a park upwind of the stack. New automatic gates had not long been fitted by the professionals to provide better perimeter security but much to the disappointment of Lindsay and Carmen, the groundsman and receptionist of about 6 weeks, the circuitry had not been thought through and they were swinging gates and not sliding as other parks I had stayed along this journey and the outwards and inward directions of travel were on the same signalling circuit, they were in the process of checking the functionality. They had not been involved in the ordering and considerations for the gates as this had all been done by the park manager They made sure I was aware of the unusual method of control and were up front about the possibility local people roaming the park. Many travellers don’t really understand the quality of security often comes down to what is in the

Rob & Kandis make you feel, welcome, safe and secure in the park & are extremely helpful. It is a different type of part to the usual sterile type as it has character. The amenities are clean, there are plenty of trees, the camp kitchen is well stocked and the children’s play ground is popular. Rob & Kandis are putting a lot of time and investment into the park, aimed at improving its facilities and giving guests a comfortable & secure place to stay. The park is across the road from a but, just up the road from the tourist information centre & the city centre of Mount Isa. We have found other guests to be very friendly & will to offer travel tips and advise on the best attractions in the area. I could have reduce the star rating, but it’s the sort of park I prefer, a little different in style, no area is the same as another and the site are angle so your are not looking straight into your neighbours. It sure has battle scars from its age, but that all adds to the experience of travel.

I hate to leave a bad review. In fact this is the first time I have ever actually left a bad review. Normally I will always try and find something positive about the experience. However, I don’t want anyone else to have the experience I had. At $40/night for a powered tent site it was the most expensive place I stayed at on my way from Brisbane and most of the other places I stayed at were beautiful, modern, in more remote areas with bigger tourist attractions in the area. This park was the polar opposite. The toilet blocks were clean however VERY dated. Same with the pool area. The powered tent sites were tiny with barely any grass. I understand it’s Mount Isa and water is scarce but the other parks in town still manage to have nice grass for tent sites. There were barely any people staying in the park (for good reason) but management still put those of us staying there on top of each other. You got out your car and we’re pretty much in the next persons camp. There is no gate at the parks driveway and it faced straight onto the main highway. From the gate you could see straight to my tent site. The park is in a very rough part of town. Apparently the people next to me went and complained about a broken bbq and broken glass in the park and the managers aggressively evicted them as a result. In the end I felt so unsafe due to how easily accessible the park was to anyone and how little privacy I had (I felt like rolling out my swag in full view of the highway so close to an insecure front gate was inviting something terrible to happen) that I went and booked into a room at the pub across the road. I’ve camped at many places over the years, in some pretty rough places, and never have I felt so unsafe before. Absolute waste of $40. I strongly recommend staying at the park on the outskirts of town (Winton side) instead. I don’t know how this place is still in business. DO NOT STAY HERE.

Worst park, falling apart and absolutely disgusting 🤮 🤢 We ended up leaving after hours of our check in. Would never recommend. The care takers are rude and greeting guests in their boxer shorts. The camp kitchen was absolutely filthy, fridge smelt like something had died in it, the sink leaked all over the ground and the bbq was filthy and rusty. The caretakers swore at us to get out if we didn’t like the facilities when approached. We felt threatened and bullied. Absolutely mortified with the experience. Travelling with young kids and ended up sleeping in the car on the side of the road on Good Friday. 😞

We booked a site for 3 nights but left after 2. I really hate to leave bad reviews and this one is based pure and simply on the youth crime which is just over the back fence and clearly the park becomes a target. I would not recommend anyone staying in Mt Isa. This park would be fine if it was a little further out of town perhaps. We found the managers to be very friendly and helpful but unfortunately, it does not alleviate the problem of crime. On arrival we were told that a man with a brand new van had it damaged the night before due to youths throwing rocks over the back fence. On our first night, the people of the back had an attempted car break-in only to be stopped due to being caught out. The second night, a party went on from 4pm until around 5am. Apparently the police were called twice but this made no difference. My advice is, just stay away from Mt Isa.

Avoid if you can. Nrma put us in this park whilst we waited on mechanic to fix car. First review we read was thieves paradise they weren’t wrong. We were here 16 days in that time the ppl beside us had their wallet stolen from car police fingerprinted car detective came asked us if we heard anything day before(we hadnt). We had our van door opened at 2.45am one morning (yes i clearly forgot to lock door lesson learnt triple check door) Few days later around 2.30 am heard voices got up peaked around blind just to see a teenager reaching for door handle by time woke hubby he was gone without a sound.The locals in surrounding area like to party lots of yelling music til all hours of night. And tge pub across rd has live band til late thursday nights.Constantly hear voices and cars driving around park at random times during night. Lady in office very rude and arrogant when we arrived said we had a booking nrma made for us before we even gave our name she said nope your in the discovery park (oh how we wished we were) told her no nrma definitely said this park name is .. then she says yeah there you are and every other interaction we had in the 16 days was pretty much the same so very very rude. Amenities are dated but clean they dont get cleaned weekends so check for toilet paper before you get comfortable.oh and they do gas bottle refills onsite but you must have to get her at certain time whens shes in a good mood we asked numerous times and were told not doing them today go to bcf knowing full well we had no car and its a half hour walk each way on third last day was told no gas next day watched truck turn up fill the bottle went to office hour later to be told we have no gas mentioned we seen truck turn up and no you didnt !