For an easy weekend away that the kids will love, you can’t beat Umina Beach caravan park.
This is one of those places that EVERYONE raves about. Especially on the north side of Sydney like we are. The Big 4 Umina Beach caravan park (officially Ocean Beach Holiday Resort) is super close to Sydney – about 1.5 hours’ drive north of the CBD, has a magnificent position right on Ocean Beach on the Central Coast, and there are ENDLESS things for the kids to do.
This is a resort holiday, where you don’t need to leave the park at all. Take the bikes, scooters, boogie boards and board games, relax and let the kids run free.
After my kids begging to go for years, we finally got there on the school holidays.
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Family fun at Big 4 Umina Beach caravan park
Beachfront location
Getting out of Sydney in any direction on a Friday afternoon is not fun, so I love how close this park is.
Even being late to get away, driving in pouring rain and horrendous traffic, we still managed to arrive by about 5.30pm. This meant we could unpack the car in daylight before driving 10 minutes back to Woy Woy to pick up David who had caught the train direct from the city after work.
The park’s location is particularly unique as it sits like a little island surrounded by parkland and beach. How lucky we are to have such beauty so close to home.
Accommodation in Umina Beach
There is a diverse range of accommodation at Big 4 Umina from camping to double storey townhouses. See the full range here.
I was glad we had booked one of the fancier options – a Plantation Cottage, which gave us plenty of space to hide from the rain and not be on top of each other. We had two bedrooms (queen bed and bunks – sleeps 5), lounge, dining, kitchen and large undercover deck.
Things to do in Umina Beach caravan park
1. Organised kids’ activities
Weekends and school holidays mean organised activities at Ocean Beach Holiday Resort. There’s no childminding or kids club, but given the huge volume of kids wandering around and very few cars, it’s the cars that tend to watch out for the kids rather than the other way around.
So put your feet up with a book and send the kids off to The Barn or Village Green to partake in the scheduled activities or just hang out.
The Barn was a blessing on our trip given that it barely stopped raining for the 3 days that we were there. We enjoyed pancake breakfasts, family trivia night and family bingo, and the kids watched movies and played Mario Kart. There was always something going on, even if it was just a movie or music playing and boardgames available.
The staff are absolutely lovely and super helpful.
Pancake breakfast in The Barn
Family Trivia in The Barn
2. Two pools, multiple spas and huge waterplay
With all the rain and cool temperatures we had I thought swimming might be off the cards, but no, the kids were super keen.
They spent hours in the main pool with waterslide, toddler area, waterfall and hot spa. The water was heated and the rain kept the crowds low.
There’s a second pool that’s almost as big, with a hot spa and a fabulous water play area next to it.
3. Go to the beach
Ocean Beach is practically a part of the park, as it is just on the other side of some bushes from the playground and jumping pillow. No road in between.
There’s a patrolled section near Umina Beach Surf Lifesaving Club and you can learn to surf here.
You can even walk along the sand all the way to Pearl Beach to the south or Ettalong Beach to the north.
4. Skateboarding, scootering and bike-riding
All the kids seem to bring their bike or scooter along and it is an ideal location to do so. There’s plenty of space and the roads within the park are paved and flat.
If bringing your own is not practical, you can hire bikes in the park.
Just outside the entrance to the park is a skate park for those wanting to get a bit more daring with their riding.
5. Go-karting
Although we had to postpone this a couple of times due to heavy rain, the kids had a ball riding their go-karts around this huge caravan park.
The cost was $16 for 3/4 hour. Half price for NRMA members.
6. Enormous playground for all ages
There’s a great playground for younger kids inside the caravan park, but just outside the gates next to the skate park is the most enormous playground, ideal for all ages.
There’s a fenced toddler area, a more adventurous zone for slightly older kids, then the flying fox and giant climbing nets for the bolder ones.
Don’t miss the two jumping pillows inside the park. These are always a winner!
7. Tennis
Pick up some racquets and balls from The Barn and give tennis a go. Free.
8. Make your own fun
We may not be the most artistically gifted family, but I love to have a drawing session with the kids on holidays. We draw what we see, we chat about anything that comes up and I always feel like it’s precious time spent together getting creative.
With all the rain we had also brought a couple of board games along, which made for some fun family time.
9. Cook a BBQ dinner
Even though we had a kitchen I didn’t intend to spend our getaway cooking. We cooked in the kitchen one night, cooked on the BBQ next to our cabin another night, got takeaway one night and went out for a casual dinner another.
The BBQs are super clean – there’s a guy who drives around in a golf cart cleaning them every morning.
10. Explore the local area
This holiday park is not cheap (check prices here), but you certainly get plenty of value with all the activities on offer. As a result I wouldn’t recommend staying here if you intend to be off out of the park every day. It’s too expensive if you’re not making the most of the facilities.
But we did head out a few times for groceries (there’s supermarkets in Umina Beach and Woy Woy), shopping (K-Mart in Woy Woy and huge shopping centres in Tuggerah and Erina), dinner at La Fiamma Italian restaurant in Ettalong Beach (the pizzas are fantastic), takeaway from Samboy Pizza in Umina Beach (lovely service) and saw a movie (multiscreen cinemas in Tuggerah and Erina and small, local cinemas in Ettalong and Avoca Beach).
