About Rainbow Beach
Rainbow Beach is a town in transition. It was once a quiet and idyllic holiday, fishing and retirement getaway but, in recent years, the holiday developers have moved in and the boast that it is an ‘eco-tourism’ destination has had to take in multi-storey beachside apartments and a feeling that it is rapidly becoming upmarket and fashionable. It still promotes itself as the ‘Gateway to Fraser Island’ (more correctly ‘The Southern Gateway to Fraser Island) as there is a regular and reliable barge which makes the crossing from the far northern end of Inskip Point (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
Rainbow Beach Caravan Park
We arrived at the Rainbow Beach Holiday Park just in time to check in and set-up before the rain arrived; and then it rained for the next 3 days (torrential at times). This made our stay just a little bit dreary (maplink).
The town of Rainbow Beach (maplink) is a nice little town and is one of the several access points (via Inskip Point) to Fraser Island. We did intend to make the trip over to Fraser but the horrible wet weather made up our minds for us. Maybe we can do it on our return trip.
We took a few day trips to some interesting places…
Carlo Sand Blow
The Carlo Sand Blow is a huge 15 hectare sand dune right next to town (maplink) and you should take the time to explore it. Part of the Great Sandy National Park it is believed to be created by a lightning strike a very long time ago. It was named by Captain James Cook after a member of the ships crew.
Tin Can Bay
We came across this nice little village on the water at Tin Can Bay Yacht Club for lunch (maplink). It was great to sit in the sunshine for a couple of hours with a couple of beers, tasty egg & bacon rolls and listening to some music while the local pelicans kept on trying to sneak into the cafĂ© for a nibble or two – very funny.
Summing up…
- Accommodation – Rainbow Beach Holiday Park is pretty run down and dated. Looks like it needs a fair bit of work to meet the fee charged per night
- Cost per night – $41.00 (@ 23-Jul-2020)
- Facilities – very run down, but clean 4/10
- CP Location – 3kms out of town but next to the water (maplink)
- Our rating/score – 6/10
- Was it a nice town to visit?–not too shabby
- Activities & places of interest – not much to do, but the weather did affect us a fair bit
- Tourist info centre? – 6 Rainbow Beach Rd, Rainbow Beach (website)
- Would we return? – Probably not. Tin Can Bay may be a better choice to stay next time
- Overall Score – 5/10
- Summary – The caravan park is 3kms out of town with nothing much to do around it so a drive to town each time is required for supplies and activities. The biggest positive is the amount of room each site has is great, compared to the park in town which is pretty cramped.