Koala Resort

Having read the reviews from 2008 I can tell you nothing has changed! We had the same problems. We stayed there at Christmas which made it worse. The food was an amalgamation of all the cheapest food you can buy from a supermarket (pasta, bread, rice, luncheon roll) and cold chicken wings every night and Christmas dinner. The captain was ignorant and clearly did not want to be there. He got noticeably short with people who had requests and mostly responded with sarcasm. However, this may all seem trivial and what prompted me to write this review was when the captain docked the boat on whitehaven beach, we had spent approximately 1 hour on the beach before a friend and myself decided to swim back (i used a life float to swim back) When we climbed up the reclining stairs the captain came out of the cabin and asked what we were doing coming back to the boat - we said we would like to get sun cream and perhaps dive in - he said that there's no point because its too shallow - but i told him that it was about 3 metres deep because i am 6ft 6 and i lost my depth 200 yards from the boat. This seemed to really p**s him off as he returned to the cabin without responding. When i dived in, the captain had removed the reclining stairs! I called him 3 times and he ignored me, i could not believe it! My friend then threw in a float so i could swim back and when i returned to the boat, i confronted him and he said he looked like a cat caught in the headlights - he then beckoned me to quieten down with is finger on his mouth! I simply told him i would complain every way i could as this was a person clearly lacking a temper to skipper a boat.

cockroaches cralling out of the shower (not just a few, but heaps of them), wet beds and sheets, one single light bulb that was actually working, police crackdown at the neighbour dorm, all this made our staya nightmare! (the last and cheapest place when we got to airlie at night) Why is the company so careless with this spot! Get some backpackers to build an awesome place up there. You've got the property! So sad "Koala" ruins this place! The only positive thing were the helpful girls at the front desk, after Koala cancelled our catamaran trip without telling us! Worst company I've ever heard of and sadly enough got in contact with. AVOID KOALA!! =(

My partner and I returned from our Whitsundays trip, sun burnt and absolutely soaked after a long walk in torrential rain from the harbour. Having pre-booked Koalas, we arrived at the reception with all our luggage in tow at about 12 noon. We immediately noticed the whole hostel was like a ghost town and the staff had no work to occupy them. After ten minutes of calling for assistance, a short, dumpy, dark haired girl aged about 18 reluctantly came over and said ‘check in is at 2pm’. My girlfriend’s eye had swollen up with sunburn and she was feeling unwell as well as being soaked through to the bone. I politely explained the situation and asked if there was any chance of checking in early. Seeing as the hostel was empty, from past experience hostels often allow early check in if rooms are available out of good will. She rolled her eyes and grunted ‘check in is at 2’. For my girlfriend’s sake I tried one more time and pleaded for any earlier than 2. She leant over the counter and aggressively shouted ‘CHECK IN IS AT 2’. Furious with her attitude I asked her to cancel our booking. She abruptly snarled ‘Whatever, I’ll charge you for staying anyway, because we have your card details from your booking.’ Livid we reluctantly returned to Koala’s at 2 due to the fact we couldn’t afford to pay for somewhere else to stay. When we went back at 2, we waited ages to be served and were then told to go outside and go in the next room to check in, even though it was just one reception counter and nobody else was there! As soon as we walked into our dorm the horrendous smell of urine and faeces hit us. Needless to say it was absolutely disgusting. We counted 8 cockroaches in the shower alone. The beds were crawling with lice and had no bedding on. I went back to reception asking for bedding, only to be told we had to pay for bedsheets and there wasn’t any available so come back later. I went back later and was told they couldn’t get me any because they couldn’t leave reception. We were then given a free drinks voucher for the bar next to the hostel, only to find this had been shut down! I woke up in the night, with a cockroach on my face and itching all over. The next morning we found red itchy swellings all over us. Overall it was the most horrific experience of our 6 months travelling, with the worst part actually being the customer service. The disorganised, disinterested young staff here treat you as a nuisance - when you so much as approach the reception desk and the cleanliness is non existent. Please do not stay here, they don’t deserve your money. If you have to pay a few extra dollars for somewhere else please do, stay anywhere but here!