Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary

We were excited to visit Arkaroola again after visiting in 1999. Such a shame that it has fallen into such disrepair. I would say there has been very little money spent on amenities in the last 25 years which is disappointing considering it is not cheap to stay here. We arrived at 6pm and the reception was closed with no notice/instructions of how to check in. Fellow travellers told us it was a BBQ dinner night so we found our way to the pool area. A staff member took us through to the reception to check in via the back rooms and kitchen (all incredibly dated and not that tidy) Our room was really something else. No fridge, kettle, toaster or TV & 2 single powerpoints in the whole room (not great for charging phones or CPap machine) I'll let the photos show the shower which was the reason we only stayed 1 night. The shower head was rusted and squirting every direction wetting everything in the room. It would be impossible for staff to not know about this! The whole place needs maintenance but it feels like a money making business for the owners with very little put back in. Both heaters haven't been tested/tagged in years. So disappointing. We thought we could bring a caravan to visit as it's a beautiful spot but sadly it looks like the caravan park facilities are run down as well.

Another destination ticked off my bucket list and will be back. Seriously out there with all the comfort you may need to have a great stay. Our chalets were very well equipped and our beds comfortable with air conditioning. After a fantastic trip through the mountains on back of UTE the large, clean pool was a very welcome sight. An evening barbecue under the stars was magical and a meal ta their restaurant the next day was specially made and you could taste it. My favourite thing were the Yellow Footed Wallabies that pop out every night.

Terrible, we went to stay recently for 1 night initially. Drove in and went to reception area to book unpowered site which was $41 for 2 adults and 16 year old. Price not great, considering the aged ammenities. With that said it wasn’t a ridiculous price. During the book in process we specifically asked if there were showers and toilets, to which we were told yes. We also initially asked the pricing of an unpowered site to be told it was about this (no concise price given just a rough price). However when we went ahead to book in it was strange that the staff member then knew the exact price which was slightly dearer than he had just told us. So we just paid for the unpowered site and went to a site, which was simply a rocky patchy area. Understand that is the terrain, but the camping areas could have a road base material there for tents and camper trailers. We initially parked up and went to go to the toilet before setting up, to find every single toilet male & female were out of order. Also every shower was out of order. Upon coming out of the toilets another guest advised that they had been out of action all day. The time was 4.45pm when we found this out. There were staff huddled around an area that was dug up, but no activity happening that would give the impression they were going to have the problem fixed any time soon. Bare in mind we specifically asked if there were showers and toilets, we then went back to reception to find out what the situation was with the toilets and showers, too which remarkably the same staffer then said Oh they are out of order and being worked on. Like it had just slipped his mind when we specifically asked about them. He knew they were not operating when we asked and when we he took our money simply neglected to tell us. We then decided to not stay and get a refund due to there not being any ammenities. To which he was forthcoming with the refund, but then slipped back to the rough pricing when he refunded us. And tried to refund us only $30 of the $41 we paid. When pointed out, made a silly joke about it and then refunded us the full amount. All the meanwhile several other staff were in The vicinity, and numerous other travellers were coming I. To book sites, approx 10 lots of people lined up. No one was in any rush to help at the counter and get people through the line up. The display area with merchandise and few grocery items etc was poorly stocked, with next to nothing on the old shelves looking very second rate. Would not recommend the place to stay, they seemed happy to take your money regardless of whether they had the facilities they were charging you for there and working or not. No instructions even given to get to the site, had to ask for them. For a place so hyped up on tourism it was disgraceful the outdated facilities there working or not. A couple of days later we stayed at Wilpena Pound and got to see the difference between the professionally run Wilpena Pound to the second rate amateur run Arkaroola.