Bounce Magnetic Island

I had a great stay at Bounce Magnetic Island, highly recommanded

We've had disappointing stays in our motorhome at other 'backpacker' places before, so weren't expecting too much here, but we were pleasantly surprised. Location was great, sites were spacious, well signed, and mostly level. We had a great stay and definitely plan to return. Booking via Agoda was good too.

We had a very nice stay at Bounce. The wild koalas in the short tree between the cabins were a highlight, as was the lorikeet feeding. The bar area was decent and we enjoyed drinks and the pop-up wood-fired pizza. However, on our final night we ordered dinner 15 minutes before kitchen closing and the kitchen staff clearly were unhappy. First, I had to ask for the cuttlery because they had not restocked the holder outside the kitchen window. Then, I realised the aoili dip was missing on my dish, and I had to again go ask for it to which she questioned if I actually even wanted the dip (which I paid for) then agressively slammed the window shut after giving it to me. Only then did we notice that my partner's burger was completely bloody red raw inside. Speaking to the on duty manager they refunded the burger and thankfully my partner noticed before eating too much of it and likely getting food poisoning. We know it was 15 minutes before kitchen closing, but if the staff have an issue with that it's not difficult to implement a "last order" time policy. Furthermore, to the kitchen staff, if your heart is not in the job, just move on. I have years of experience working in hospitality, both managing kitchens and bars, and I would be absolutely ashamed to have sent out such a violation of food hygeine from my kitchen. Besides the failure of the kitchen, our stay was pleasant and the atmosphere was good. The laundry worked well. The cabin was cosy. The staff (kitchen aside) were all very friendly. The only other point of note is that we wanted to hire snorkelling gear, but was utterly shocked to find every single fin had been damaged/snapped and bent at a 45° angles seemingly to force them into the wooden lock box by reception. Whoever did this has cost potentially hundreds of dollars of permanent damage. Also, the snorkels were dirty and unwashed, some hanging on by rubber bands to the mask. They were completely unusuable, and it was laughable you had to pay to use them. So, we took the bus to Geofrey Bay and hired snorkel sets from Pleasure Divers instead. Despite all this, as they are outlier problems, we would still recommend staying here.

The vibe, the people, the location, all perfect. Can be a bit noisy close to the bar but it ends around 22-23h. 100% recommended. The girls working there are so nice and helpful.