Waterfront Holiday Park, Tailem Bend, SA
By Alison Huth
Peter and I were keen to get to this park because we had heard that it had just gone to Adults Only. We wondered what this would mean for the park and the guests.
Cathy and Evan will have had the park for four years in July 2026. When they bought it, the park was pretty run down. Now, it is so far from run down it’s hard to imagine what it was like.
Their main aim when they bought the park was to change the then long term status and make it purely tourist and then Adults Only. One of the main changes was to create grassed sites, and big ones at that. The sites easily take a large caravan, plus awning and car. Our van is 8m and we had plenty of room all around us because the site we had was 12m x 10m!
All the roads are gravel and the combination of green grass and yellowish gravel is very attractive. They also made sure that each site had power and water. The water is treated on site as it comes from the Murray.
We had a waterfront site and were really happy to see the line of wooden platforms between the waterfront sites and the cliff face. You can sit there and enjoy the view of the Murray River and the unbelievable sunsets. Evan tells me there might be maybe 10 days a year when the sunset is not worth photographing!
They also have three styles of on-site accommodation. Some small Studio Rooms, Cabins and large Villas. Currently there are 44 powered sites (2 are ensuite), no unpowered sites. The sites are so popular they are planning on building four new en-suite sites to meet the demand.
Because the park is old, and was not in good condition when they took it over, the amenities building has had a major renovation and is really attractive. It’s also pet friendly as one little dog found out when he found a tree that went with his colour scheme really well!
One of the really fascinating things is how you check in. When you make a booking, it’s on-line. When your site is ready you get a phone message and email which gives you the site number, the code to open the gates and there’s a park map waiting for you at the gate. What you don’t have to do is get out of the car and go into an office and check in that way. It’s a new idea and means that you can check in quite late because you don’t have to see a person to get into the park and onto your site. The phones are manned 24 hours a day.
There are communal areas, lovely gardens, decorative birds and a very special Panda. The Adults Only means that the park is quiet most of the time. You can catch up with other guests, have fun, join up for a BBQ, do all those things that make caravanning so good. But, there’s no risk of getting in the way of kids playing games, throwing balls, riding bikes or scooters. The park is easy to stay in, easy to sleep in, and a must on our repeat visit list.
