The best holiday kid's clubs in Australia

Kids’ clubs – the saviour of holidaying parents everywhere. Whether your offspring are at the crawling stage or the sneering stage, there’s a club out there to suit. We’ll help you find it.

If you don’t discover the joys of a good kids’ club early on, you may miss out on some truly memorable family holidays. Sure, there may be times when you can’t wait to hand them over and occasions when you prefer to spend precious holiday time actually in their company – but isn’t it great to know there’s a choice? In no particular order, here are Australian Traveller’s pick of the kids’ clubs.

Run away to the circus

No need to call the RSPCA – there isn’t a clapped-out old bear in sight at the brand new Cirque Espace, Novotel Twin Waters’ Cirque du Soleil-inspired circus school. The 4.5 star resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast beachfront has always gone out of its way to make kids happy with its excellent Club Dolfi – and now there’s the added element for anyone aged seven and up (ie, you can do it, too) in the form of the Exhiler8 Flying Trapeze, a static trapeze, juggling, acrobatic balancing . . . it’s a tumbling, clowning free-for-all.

Open daily, Club Dolfi also has a new games and play area, meaning kids aged anywhere from two to 12 can check in for activities such as painting, jewellery making, sand sculptures, movie and popcorn nights, discos, puppet and clay design, kite flying – all along the resort’s private, enclosed lagoon beach. While your kids will expect you to put your hand in your pocket for them until the day you die, Club Dolfi offers a brief respite – for each full-priced session your darlings attend, they receive one Dolfi dollar to spend on Dolfi merchandise. A nanny service for children under two years is also available on request.

Shh! Don’t tell the kids . . .

. . . but Couran Cove Island Resort off the Queensland Gold Coast (www.courancove.com.au ) is only 40 minutes from theme parks such as Dreamworld, Wet ‘n’ Wild and Movieworld. The island itself has many different styles of accommodation, including two-bedroom waterfront lodges, four-bedroom villas on the Broadwater or in the Forest setting, 2.5-bedroom nature cabins for self-catering, and waterfront hotel rooms and suites – so check to make sure which will suit you best. Guests bike around this spacious resort or take the tram.

The Kites Kids’ Club is an activities centre for children aged three to 12 and is run by trained coordinators who supervise highly entertaining pastimes such as frog and crab spotting expeditions, treasure hunts, pipi gathering, kayaking, boat making, sand castle competitions and even a mini Olympics.

A clown school, arts and crafts, T-shirt painting and special theme nights are just some of the other activities – as well as something called “mud madness" which I don’t want to ask any more about (it probably involves laundry – but what the heck, that’s as good an excuse as any to book yourself an additional spa treatment). Costs are from $18 for morning and afternoon sessions and $30 for an evening session, including Spa Island dinner. There’s also a babysitting service.

Lighten up

Pack only the essential toys your child won’t leave home without when you visit the Novotel Pacific Bay Resort in Coffs Harbour, NSW (1300 363 360), as toys for babies and toddlers can be hired for ten dollars a bag. Babysitting is also available, as well as supervised trips to the movies and Hungry Jacks in school holidays. Package stays are available at this resort overlooking Charlesworth Bay, and up to December 24 a family can stay in a one-bedroom suite from $231 a night, with a free activities pass thrown in.

Since this is a Novotel, kids aged two to 15 can avail themselves of Club Dolfi and all its attendant delights – programs for making Shrek hats and jungle masks, painting sea collages, that sort of thing – and be kept generally entertained while you’re off taking care of the washing and cooking (all spa suites feature a full kitchen and laundry). Or perhaps you’re off relaxing in your spa bath. Either way, once those chores are done you might be found by or in one of the three swimming pools, playing a round of golf or having a treatment at the day spa. Music, games and video nights are also available for the kids. Nearby, see the Wallabies training facilities, the Big Banana and other family attractions.

For the little (and the big) kids

For a destination that ticks all the family boxes, Hamilton Island nails it. It’s postcard-perfect location is ideal for recharging your batteries, all while the little ones run down theirs – in the best possible way. Go-karting, mini golf, tenpin bowling, a wildlife park, and an array of watersports – to name but a few activities – will keep the whole family busy, while the Clownfish Club (Hamilton Island’s childcare centre) is on hand when kid-free moments beckon. Three of the island’s five resorts cater for young children and even include a generous ‘kids stay and eat free ’ offer.

For the big kids, there’s a plethora of adrenaline-inducing activities such as water tubing, wakeboarding, waterskiing ad windsurfing. If that’s not enough action, they can hit the hills on an adrenaline-fuelled quad bike expedition, or set off on a jet skiing or sea kayaking adventure, leaving you free to loll on a sun lounger.

Play tag with a turtle

I (almost) wished I were a kid again when I first saw the fun they were having on the Heron Island Junior Ranger Program. Heron is a coral cay actually on the Great Barrier Reef and, as part of the Marine National Park, it’s of course surrounded by an ocean filled with bright fish, is aflutter with thousands of noddy terns (watch your head), and hosts turtle-nesting season from November to April. The island just barely makes it into the tropics, so it’s not really subject to a rigid Wet and Dry season.

Kids aged seven to 12 can join the Junior Ranger Program during Australian eastern seaboard school holidays (and at other times by request, minimum of three), with activities designed to earn them 15 colourful badges. During turtle season they become part of the Queensland Turtle Research monitoring program, with activities including reef walks and snorkelling, turtle tagging, charting the night sky and “piloting" a helicopter. Registration fee is AUD$55, which helps to raise funds for the Queensland Turtle Conservation Program, while also covering the cost of Junior Ranger activities, workbooks and badges.

You can swim straight off the beach to the coral and take snorkel and dive trips to some sensational spots. All meals are included in the tariff and the atmosphere is very laid-back – but with enough nightlife to keep parents happy, too.

Little rascals

Don’t fancy being squished into one room? The two- and three-bedroom resort cottages at Rafferty’s Resort beside Lake Macquarie sleep up to six. A home from home, they’re designed for families (and/or friends), with large living areas complete with TV/Foxtel, gourmet kitchen, courtyard and a veranda, with all the resort facilities on the doorstep. Along with the children’s playground, there’s Rafferty’s Rascals Kids Club for ages four to 12, which operates at weekends and during school holidays.

There are four grass tennis courts (two floodlit) and four swimming pools with one indoor, heated and with a spa. Lakeside beach games such as volleyball help keep kids amused, along with all kinds of other activities on, in and around the lake and property grounds. The resort also has a general store on the property with – importantly – wine sales.

Winding down in the Yarra Valley, where ‘work from home’ becomes ‘work from wine country’.

Steam from my morning coffee curls gently into the cool valley air, mist-veiled vineyards stretch out in neat rows below me. Magpies warble from trees, and the morning’s quiet carries the soft bleating of lambs from a nearby paddock. Midweek in the Yarra Valley has its own rhythm. It’s slower, quieter, with more empty tables at cafes and cellar doors, and walking trails I can claim all to myself. It’s as if the entire region takes a deep breath once the weekend crowd leaves.

walking trails in the Yarra Valley — You’ll find walking trails are less crowded during the week. (Image: Visit Victoria)

I haven’t come here for a holiday, but to do a little work somewhere other than my home office, where I spend too much time hunched over my desk. Deadlines still loom, meetings still happen, but with flexible work evolving from ‘work from home’ to ‘work from anywhere’, I’m swapping the view of my front yard to the vineyards.

A quiet afternoon at Yarra Valley Dairy

holding a glass of wine at Yarra Valley Dairy — Wine time at Yarra Valley Dairy, where you can enjoy a toastie or bagel in the cafe. (Image: Visit Victoria)

With the Yarra Valley just over an hour from the CBD, many Melburnians could drive here in their lunch break. I arrive late in the afternoon and am delighted to discover the Yarra Valley Dairy still open. On weekends, I’ve seen queues spilling out the door, but today there’s only one other couple inside. There’s no need to rush to secure a table; instead I browse the little store, shelves stacked with chutneys, spices, artisan biscuits and gorgeous crockery that would look right at home in my kitchen. It’s hard not to buy the lot.

a cheese tasting plate atYarra Valley Dairy — A cheese tasting plate at Yarra Valley Dairy.

I order a coffee and a small cheese platter, though the dairy has a full menu, and choose a wooden table with bentwood chairs by a wide window. The space feels part farm shed, part cosy café: corrugated iron ceiling, walls painted in muted tones and rustic furniture.

Outside, cows meander toward milking sheds. If pressed for time, there’s the option of quick cheese tastings – four samples for five dollars in five minutes – but today, I’m in no rush. I sip slowly, watching a grey sky settle over the paddock. Less than an hour ago I was hunched over my home-office desk, and now my racing mind has slowed to match the valley’s pace.

Checking in for vineyard views at Balgownie Estate

Restaurant 1309 at Balgownie Estate has views across the vines.

As my car rolls to a stop at Balgownie Estate , I’m quietly excited, and curious to see if my plan to work and play comes off. I’ve chosen a suite with a spacious living area and a separate bedroom so I can keep work away from a good night’s sleep. I could have booked a cosy cottage, complete with open fireplace, a comfy couch and a kettle for endless cups of tea, but as I am still here to get some work done, I opt for a place that takes care of everything. Dinner is served in Restaurant 1309, as is breakfast.

oysters at Restaurant 1309, Balgownie Estate — Oysters pair perfectly with a crisp white at Restaurant 1309.

On my first evening, instead of the usual walk about my neighbourhood, I stroll through the estate at an unhurried pace. There’s no need to rush – someone else is preparing my dinner after all. The walking trails offer beautiful sunsets, and it seems mobs of kangaroos enjoy the view, too. Many appear, grazing lazily on the hillside.

I wake to the call of birds and, after breakfast, with the mist still lingering over the vineyards, I watch two hot-air balloons silently drift above clouds. Perched on a hill, Balgownie Estate sits above the mist, leaving the valley below veiled white.

kangaroos in Yarra Valley — Spotting the locals on an evening walk. (Image: Visit Victoria)

Exploring the Yarra Valley on two wheels

the Yarra Valley vineyards — Swap your home office for a view of the vineyards. (Image: Visit Victoria/Cormac Hanrahan)

Perhaps because the Yarra Valley is relatively close to where I live, I’ve never considered exploring the area any way other than by car or on foot. And with a fear of heights, a hot-air balloon is firmly off the table. But when I discover I can hop on two wheels from the estate and cycle into Yarra Glen, I quickly realise it’s the perfect way to step away from my laptop and experience a different side of the region.

COG Bike offers pedal-assist e-bikes, and while the bike trail and paths into town aren’t particularly hilly, having an extra bit of ‘oomph’ means I can soak up the surroundings. Those lambs I heard calling early in the morning? I now find them at the paddock fence, sniffing my hands, perhaps hoping for food. Cows idle nearby, and at a fork in the bike path I turn left toward town.

It’s still morning, and the perfect time for a coffee break at The Vallie Store. If it were the afternoon, I’d likely turn right, in the direction of four wineries with cellar doors. The ride is about 15 kilometres return, but don’t let that put you off. Staying off the highway, the route takes you along quiet backroads where you catch glimpses of local life – farmers on tractors, weathered sheds, rows of vines and the kind of peaceful countryside you don’t see from the main road.

A detour to the Dandenong Ranges

legs hanging over the sides of the train, Puffing Billy Railway — The iconic Puffing Billy runs every day except Christmas Day.

The beauty of basing myself in the Yarra Valley is how close everything feels. In barely half an hour I’m in the Dandenong Ranges, swapping vineyards for towering mountain ash and fern-filled gullies. The small villages of Olinda and Sassafras burst with cosy teahouses, antique stores and boutiques selling clothing and handmade body care items.

I’m drawn to RJ Hamer Arboretum – Latin for ‘a place for trees’. Having grown up among tall trees, I’ve always taken comfort in their presence, so this visit feels like a return of sorts. A stroll along the trails offers a choice: wide open views across patchwork paddocks below, or shaded paths that lead you deeper into the quiet hush of the peaceful forest.

The following day, I settle into a quiet corner on the balcony of Paradise Valley Hotel in Clematis and soon hear Puffing Billy’s whistle and steady chuff as the steam train climbs towards town. Puffing Billy is one of Australia’s most beloved steam trains, running through the Dandenong Ranges on a narrow-gauge track. It’s famous for its open carriages where passengers can sit with their legs hanging over the sides as the train chugs through the forest. This is the perfect spot to wave to those on the train.

After my midweek break, I find my inbox still full and my to-do list not in the least shrunken, just shifted from one task to another. But I return to my home office feeling lighter, clearer and with a smug satisfaction I’d stolen back a little time for myself. A midweek wind-down made all the difference.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Balgownie Estate offers everything from cellar door tastings to spa treatments and fine dining – all without leaving the property.

Playing there

the TarraWarra Museum of Art, Yarra Valley — Visit the TarraWarra Museum of Art. (Image: Visit Victoria)

Wander through Alowyn Gardens, including a stunning wisteria tunnel, then explore the collection of contemporary artworks at TarraWarra Museum of Art . Cycle the Yarra Valley with COG Bike to visit local wineries and cellar doors.

Eating and drinking there

Olinda Tea House offers an Asian-inspired high tea. Paradise Valley Hotel, Clematis has classic pub fare, while the iconic Yering Station offers wine tastings and a restaurant with seasonal dishes.

seasonal dishes at the restaurant inside Yering Station — The restaurant at Yering Station showcases the best produce of the Yarra Valley. (Image: Visit Victoria)

The best holiday kids’ clubs in Australia