Great Keppel Island Holiday Village

Great Keppel Island Holiday Village is the budget-friendlier stay on Great Keppel Island, off Yeppoon: a holiday-village setup of cabins and rooms rather than the island's resort feel, a short walk from Fisherman's Beach and the island trails. Reviews rate it 4.8 from more than two hundred stays. For dog owners, though, the pet picture has to be sorted out before anything else.

Dogs at the Holiday Village

Read the property's own pages carefully here. Some third-party summaries describe dogs staying under effective control with guests cleaning up after them, but the village's own rooms page states pets are not permitted, with registered service animals the only exception. Those two things cannot both be true, so if you are considering this village with a dog, contact the property directly and get the current position in writing before you book any room or any ferry.

Getting a dog to the island

The transport leg is the easier part. Both ferry operators from Rosslyn Bay Marina carry dogs on standard transfers: Keppel Konnections charges a small pet fee, roughly five dollars for small dogs and ten for large, and Freedom Fast Cats also takes dogs if you flag it at booking. Great Keppel Island is not a national park, so dogs are legally allowed on the island itself, kept on a leash at all times and cleaned up after. The island is car-free, so everything happens on foot.

Max: sort the two bookings separately. A pet-friendly ferry seat does not mean a pet-friendly bed, and here the village's own site currently says the bed is not on offer.

If you need a fallback

If the village cannot take your dog, the mainland coast still works: Poinciana Tourist Park in Yeppoon is the pet-friendly base with day trips to the island, and Tropical Vibes is on the Rosslyn Bay side for the pre-ferry coffee.

More options are on the QLD dog-friendly stays guide and the The Keppels destination page.