Ready to put your feet up, enjoy some water views and relax by the sea? Of course you are!
Caloundra is only a short drive from Brisbane, and is such a welcoming place to visit – whether you’re on your own, with family, or looking for a quiet couple’s retreat.
The Watermark Resort, Caloundra is waiting to welcome you.
The Watermark Resort, Caloundra has a range of apartment options – from motel rooms, to 2 and 3 bedroom apartments. We immediately realised what a great venue it would be for a family reunion or celebration, due to the range of options and price brackets on offer.
This visit, we thought we’d push the boat out a little and give one of their Penthouses a try. They have two! We stayed in Penthouse number 38, which is on the 4th (and top) floor of the resort.
The Resort is an older waterfront building, and one that we’ve been meaning to check out for quite awhile.
With its own private boardwalk along Pumistone Passage, it’s an easy 10 minute walk to some great beaches, cafes and shops and everything you could need.
Bulcock, Golden and Kings Beaches are within strolling distance. Shelly, Moffat and Dicky Beaches are only a bit further afield, and Currimundi Lake is also worth a look if you get ‘beach’ fatigue.
The Resort is easy to find, and once you arrive you’ll be welcomed by the lovely people at reception and given your room fob key and your allotted car spot.
Each apartment has an allotted car space (waterfront apartments are given 2 ) so our little Suzuki Swift had plenty of space to move around. Not that it did, on account of it’s not haunted.
Note that if you’re staying in one of the motel rooms, you won’t be guaranteed parking in the undercover carpark, however the staff will let you know if spare parking spaces become available.
There are vending machines and activity brochures in the undercover carpark, so if you get overexcited by your new car space, you can grab an orange juice and a pamphlet on jet ski hire to calm your nerves.
Go easy on the chips early on though, as the building is an older one and the lift is quite snug. Once you’re in the lift with a luggage trolley and your loved ones, there’s not a lot of spare space for all those brochures you put in your pocket earlier, Gary.
On entering our Penthouse suite, our first reaction was – “Wow look at that water view!!” Our second reaction was – “Hey, where do those stairs go?”
As you come in the front door, the kitchen is to your left – with a dishwasher, oven, microwave, all the good stuff. There are the usual tea and coffee offerings (no biscuits or hot choc) with an added Nescafe thing (technical term) if you’re into pods (coffee pods, not those things that Brian Dennehy came out of in the 1985 hit movie ‘Cocoon‘) … (what do you mean you’ve never seen ‘Cocoon’? I’ll pause here while you go and catch up.)
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Off the kitchen is the spare bedroom, with twin beds. I can’t confirm if they’re fraternal or identical, as we didn’t sleep in there. Knock yourself out though. This room doesn’t have a view, but would be comfortable if you were bringing a friend or your twin, and regardless – every visitor has a right to stand on the balcony and look outside from time to time.
There’s a bathroom right next to the spare room, with a “Fowler” brand toilet, so you know that it’s good.
A dining table is just off the kitchen, for all your sitting and eating needs. Don’t get the two mixed up.
We had 3 bird visitors within the first few hours – which we took to be a blessing rather than a Hitchcockian omen. One bird just snuck under the railing for some reason – go over, dude, you have wings. He then looked like he was just going to walk right in, so I had to make a bird ‘shoo!’ noise which alarmed us both.
Off the kitchen is a staircase that leads up to a private balcony with an equally gorgeous view. This balcony area is set up as a whole other dining / relaxing area for you to enjoy. There’s even a BBQ chained to the wall for safety, a clothesline where you can hang your caught fish, and a large table to sit and look at the hanging fish prior to eating said fish.
Through a safety glass door are 2 relaxer sun-loungers where you can sit and think about the fish you just saw, and look out at their house. There’s a sunshade over the main table, but not over the lounge chairs, so would be quite hot to sit out there during the day, but if you like turning yourself into human jerky or want to be kissed by the sun (ouch) – then this is your time to shine. We enjoyed the area in the evenings, eating our dinner and looking out over the water – beautiful.
The main bedroom is super comfortable with a king bed and an ensuite. There’s a separate closet area to put all those books you’ve already bought from Graeme at The Bookshop at Caloundra – oh, and I suppose your luggage and such.
Ceiling fans are placed skyward in the main living room and in the bedroom, for those that hate natural breeze. The fan in the bedroom scared me – setting 1 was barely moving and setting 2 felt like it was going to fly off and propeller us, so we chose to use the air-con when we needed it.
There also a washing machine and dryer off the kitchen, if you want to make yourself presentable for the seagulls.
The living room couches were comfy to sit on, and patterned like cinema carpet which is bold choice, but one that I respect.
The unit was very comfortable to stay in, however not very soundproof – so if you like a ‘deathly silent’ holiday, you might want to bring your earmuffs. We could hear people clearly out in the hallway & staff cleaning the unit next door (we love you cleaners, and appreciated the lovely tidy space to stay).
The Resort has 3 separate pools and a spa in their ‘pool enclosure’ which means that you can hear the joy and laughter of small children clearly from your balcony. You can also hear when Tyler doesn’t want to get out of the pool, and his mother’s patience runs out. You have 5 more minutes, Tyler. When Tyler’s not in the pool though, it’s lovely and peaceful and you can hear the water washing against the jetty.
The view was the main attraction for us, and made our stay magical. Not literally – although we did keep an eye out for any starfish that looked like they could grant us wishes.
The staff we interacted with were all wonderful, and we’d definitely recommend the Watermark Resort to friends and family.
If you’re still on the edge, please know that they have over 100 movies in their free DVD library (cute!); a PlayStation 3 that you can hire, with over 25 games; and a free library next to reception – if you want to give Graeme time to restock his bookshop.
In our opinion, there is simply nothing better than curling up in your holiday accommodation with too many books.
If you’re in the Caloundra area looking for your next favourite read, you can’t go past The Bookshop at Caloundra or The Book Bucket Caloundra Book Exchange.
Our Watermark Resort holiday book haul included:
