Houseboat Rental Questions Answered

Operating for nearly 40 years, Coomera Houseboat Holidays offers access to Coomera River, The Broadwater within the Moreton Bay Marine Park and South Stradbroke Island & its Conservation Park on the Gold Coast, Australia. Our large fleet of self-contained houseboats offers range from 2-cabin to 4-cabin with a spa. Be your own captain as you self-drive your private vessel. No boat licence required (except ThePrestige) and a full instruction training is provided. Gather your crew &book today.

Our team of skippers will explain the operation of your vessel and the navigation rules before you leave the marina and after your practical instruction you’ll be on your way in confidence.
The briefing takes approximately one hour.

Anyone who is over the age of 18 (over 26 for The Prestige) with a full driver’s licence (and common sense), attentive to the skipper’s briefing, and who follows our instructions and maritime regulations, can drive a houseboat.

A full car license or boat license is required to drive the houseboat. All drivers must be over the age of 18, except for The Prestige (26 is the minimum age required).

Our support team is available every day. An emergency phone line is also available every day for after-hours emergencies. All hirers are required to have a mobile phone capable of making calls / receiving calls at all times during the entire charter.

You can see our fleet of houseboats on our website with photos, floorplans, virtual tours and vessel details. Our smallest vessels have a maximum capacity of 7 crew members while the largest of our fleet have a maximum capacity of 12 crew members on board.
Once you know how many guests will be on board, you can select the level of comfort suitable for your crew. Some entry level houseboats have limited facilities while others from the comfort range offer two bathrooms, two toilets, a spa, a generator, air conditioning…etc.
Our friendly reservation team is always happy to guide you with the choice of your vessel based on your requirements.

You can check availability and book online 24/7 via the “Book Now” button on our website. You will receive an instant confirmation with secure credit card payment options. Depending on the reservation option you select, a payment of 35% up to 100% of the houseboat hire fee may be required at time of booking.

All food and beverages for your charter (very limited supplies along our cruising ground as the experience we offer is nature based), mobile phones with charger, personal toiletries, beach towels for swimming/spa, sunscreen, insect repellent, all required medication, fishing equipment, binoculars, Children/infant lifejacket, a sharp knife.
Check lists of facilities, of what is provided on board each vessel and what to bring is available on our website.

Online Check-In will open 5 days before departure & close 2 days before departure. You will be requested to complete the check-in and you will then be able to choose your preferred available briefing time between 1pm & 3pm. Your crew must be available to arrive at our marina between those times.
On check-in day, access to boarding your houseboat will open one hour before your chosen briefing time. Please note that we do not provide access to the houseboat, jetty, trolleys or reception desk before this time. We recommend that you do not arrive any later than 30min before the start of your briefing to allow enough time to sign-in and load your belongings on board.
Briefing by one of our qualified briefers lasts about an hour.
If you are not on the houseboat with all your crew and belongings ready to be briefed at the agreed briefing time, we reserve the right to cancel your briefing, and your houseboat holiday will be spent at our jetty. No refunds will be provided under these circumstances.

Be at the instructed waiting area at 8.30 am, ready for one of our skippers to dock the Houseboat.
Houseboat must be vacated by 9.30 am.

We need to ensure that any electrical appliance brought on board is compatible with our power systems. Mobile phone chargers are suitable for all boats (Solar powered AND generator powered houseboats).
Vessels with a generator only (Blue Sky SPA, The Prestige SPA, Aegean 60 and Shenanigans) can support other appliances which must all be approved. Failure to gain approval for any electrical appliances could result in damage to the power system for which the hirer is responsible.

Strictly no pet permitted on board any vessel in accordance with Queensland Parks & Wildlife, and Health & Safety restrictions.

Free off-street parking is available. We offer limited secure parking at our marina for $10 per car / per trailer per night which you can book with our reservation team prior to arrival.

Your houseboat is fuelled prior to your arrival, with sufficient fuel for the duration of your hire. It is not permitted to access fuelling stations with your houseboat hire.

All our vessels have fresh drinking water on board. As the water supply is limited, we recommend keeping showers to once daily for 4 minutes or less and be water conscious when cooking in the kitchen.

The vessel must be returned in a good clean & tidy condition or an extra cleaning charge will apply.
You will also be charged for damaged and missing items.

All bedding linen and bath towels are provided as per the vessel maximum crew capacity and sleeping configuration. No extra linen can be provided.
We recommend that you bring extra bath towels, tea towels or any extra linen you may require. (We do not have any housekeeping water service while you are on board).

We do not have specific wheelchair accessible houseboats.
An inspection of our fleet is available by appointment only.

Fridges are different sizes depending on the vessel you choose.
Some vessels have a gas fridge. They may not reach the same cold temperatures as electric fridges and should not be opened too often in hot climate.
We recommend that you select the houseboat which suits your requirement at time of booking. If you are a keen chef and you know you like to bring a lot of food on your houseboat getaway, we recommend you take the fridge size into consideration before making a reservation.

All vessels come with an ice box (80L to 100L) on the deck, great for drinks and for saving food space in the fridge. We recommend you use block ice as it is the most efficient in ice boxes (Sold at our marina).
Some houseboats have an extra fridge/cooler – See our vessels specifications.

We have 5kg block ice and 5kg party ice available for purchase at our marina at time of check in.

Supplies are extremely limited on our cruising ground. We recommend that you bring all necessary items at time of check in

Your houseboat is limited to 6 knots.

You can fish from the houseboats’ lower deck. Some vessels are equipped with fishing boards and rod holders as indicated in each boat equipment list.

We have a large selection of frozen bait available for purchase at our marina at time of check in.

We have a large cruising ground from Russell Island to the North to the northern side of Wave Break Island (Wave Break Island is outside of our cruising ground), covering over 50kms of waterways.
Some locations along those waterways are not permitted for access. No entry into any marina is allowed.
A detailed navigation guide will be on board and you will be required to follow this guide and stay within our authorized cruising ground at all times or your charter will be instantly terminated – no refund of unused hire and loss of your bond will apply.
You can visit our maps & places to view more information on our website.

Tipplers Café on South Stradbroke Island is a licensed café open every day for coffee, ice cream or drinks and for breakfast/brunch/lunch (early dinners on Fridays/Saturdays only). A memorable experience easily accessible from your houseboat anchorage with a motorised dinghy (Outboard engine hire is available with your reservation).
As no access to any marina is permitted, no other venue is accessible.

Swimming, Fishing, Kayaking, Bush walking, Wildlife spotting, Relaxing… Make your houseboat holiday as relaxed or as active as you wish.

All tinnies, jetskis, kayaks and SUP must be approved by our team. Some vessels have towing restrictions. Some vessels have equipment size restrictions.
If approved, you may be required to bring protective equipment (fenders, …etc) as any damage caused by your equipment is your responsibility and will incur a charge.

All houseboats come with a dinghy with oars for emergency.
You may be able to use the dinghy to go from your anchorage location to shore if you hire one of our 3hp-4hp outboard engines and if you only use the dinghy within 250 metres of the houseboat as per the maritime regulations.

All houseboats are in survey to carry a certain number of crew at any given time. This varies between 7 crew to 12 crew. This number applies to both crew sleeping on board and day visitors. If the number of crew exceeds the maximum capacity of the vessel, your charter will be instantly terminated – no refund of unused hire and loss of your bond will apply.

Your guests can join you at our marina or by booking a water taxi.
If they join you at our marina, you will need to be anchored within 250 metres of our jetty and transfer your guests with the motorised dinghy (Outboard engine charges apply).
If they join you by water taxi, we strongly recommend booking ahead to avoid disappointment as they can get very busy, especially on weekends.

Houseboating is safe for the whole family and for all ages. We recommend that you bring your children lifejackets and that you keep your children supervised while on the water.

No. Our minimum hire is always at least two nights and usually 3 nights. 
No check out on Friday, Saturdays or Sundays.

Motoring charges apply for all boats which includes fuel consumption. Your starting engine hours will be recorded by our skipper during your briefing and will be recorded again by our skipper at time of returning the boat.
Generator charges apply to Blue Sky SPA, The Prestige SPA, Aegean 60 SPA and Shenanigans.

There are swimming nets accessible on South Stradbroke Island.