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Please see Tully for other available Tully hostels and accommodations.
Please see Tully for other available Tully hostels and accommodations.
The Hostelz.com Review
Located on the main drag in Tully, Banana Barracks serves as a hostel for those travellers working in the fruit-picking trade. Restaurants, shops, grocery stores, and news agents are all within walking distance.
The building is in good condition and is relatively clean. Each room is set up with several self-contained units that connect to a common area that has an ensuite bathroom and security lockers. Oddly enough, management has installed bunk beds into these common areas, which is less than ideal considering the amount of traffic that moves through the zone.
The atmosphere is very friendly, and a unique commradarie emerges as nearly everyone is there with the same purpose: to make money and get the hell out. Due to the fact that most people work early in the morning, the weekday nightlife is generally subdued, if not non-existant altogether. On weekends, the adjoining bar (Rafters) goes off and the backpackers spend some of their hard-earned money.
The kitchen is large with plenty of cooking and eating space, along with large refridgerators and ample room to store food. A mini-theatre area is set up next to the swimming pool which is where movies and music videos are played throughout the day. The Raging Thunder Cafe is nearby, and although they offer excellent white-water rafting trips along the Tully River, most people do these day-trips via Cairns or Mission Beach.
The building is in good condition and is relatively clean. Each room is set up with several self-contained units that connect to a common area that has an ensuite bathroom and security lockers. Oddly enough, management has installed bunk beds into these common areas, which is less than ideal considering the amount of traffic that moves through the zone.
The atmosphere is very friendly, and a unique commradarie emerges as nearly everyone is there with the same purpose: to make money and get the hell out. Due to the fact that most people work early in the morning, the weekday nightlife is generally subdued, if not non-existant altogether. On weekends, the adjoining bar (Rafters) goes off and the backpackers spend some of their hard-earned money.
The kitchen is large with plenty of cooking and eating space, along with large refridgerators and ample room to store food. A mini-theatre area is set up next to the swimming pool which is where movies and music videos are played throughout the day. The Raging Thunder Cafe is nearby, and although they offer excellent white-water rafting trips along the Tully River, most people do these day-trips via Cairns or Mission Beach.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
January 2004
Their Description
Banana Barracks Details
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Map
Location/Contact| Address | 50 Butler Street, Tully, Queensland, Australia |
| Location | Drive up Ricahrd Street Tully and look for the big Banana Barracks Hostel Sign |
| Website | www.bananabarracks.com |
| Telephone | +61 (7) 4068-0455 |
| Fax | +61 (7) 4068-0466 |
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Hostelz.com Guest Reviews
STAY AWAY! Stayed here for two months was a struggle, soul destroying and uncomfortable. Wanted to get second year visa and couldnt face another month of the place so left to stay in shared housing which was so much cheaper and nicer. They take a $300 deposit when you arrived, which seems over the top. As soon as i saw my room i knew id made a mistake. I stayed in a dorm and everyone was stuffed into one space, so messy with people's stuff everywhere and dirty. Thy tell you you can get your deposit back as long as you look after kitchen ware, room tidy and return the key and give a week's notice before leaving. I gave them my weeks notice and they wouldn't give me my money back -- saying because I was leaving the barracks to stay somewhere else,I wasn't entitled to it because they found me the job. I wasn't told this when I arrived and had no contract to say this. From what I hear they use any excuse to keep the money -- I think it's a con. Hostel was a horrible, the kitchen was dirty, the place you were expected to keep your food was horrible. The staff really don't give a crap about the workers or what happens to them when they go to the farm. My farm was decent, but other people had problems and went to the hostel (who set up the work) for help and they couldn't care less -- they just threatened you with loosing job. Banana farming is hard! Please prepare yourself for this! If you really still want to do it, stay in shared housing in tully for like $50 a week" ($100 less than hostel) and contact the farms yourself for work -- you'd get it easy. Don't trust the people who work their Paula is so two-faced and false, cheers dudes, good luck with farming, don't stay here! No one who stays there actually likes it enough to give it 5 stars! — Ste , Uk, (2012-01-17) ABSOLUTE DUMP! DO NOT STAY THERE!!! No stars would be the rating if that was an option. Banana barracks and the accompanying farm work is soul destroying. If you have any sense you will not stay here. $300 - paid up front as a deposit. Numerous reasons are given for the need for this amount, but really it is to stop you leaving straight away. You pay the amount on reception as soon as you arrive, along with a weeks rent (which is hugely overpriced in comparison to other accommodation in Tully). You are then show to your room, which can only be described as a shed. Makeshift walls which looks like they were put together by a five year old. The rooms are cramped, dirty and have bed bugs and cockroaches. The hostel is only interested in money, not the guests, so they cramped people into every possible space available. There is no natural light in the rooms, no space for storage, a communal area in one of the rooms -- has been filled with bunk beds to stuff more people in and greedily get more money. The bunks beds are cramped and the mattresses hard. The kitchen is disgusting, you are given a cubby hole to store your food, but there is no space for newcomers, because of the overcrowding and what space there is is dirty. There isn't kitchen utensils, pots and pan have no handles. Fridge is dirty. Owners just interested in your money, not you. If you keep your mouth shut and don't rock the boat and you'll be fine, have a opinion and complain -- then watch out. They will use any excuse not to give you back your deposit. Farm work, really depends on which farm you are allocated, some people seemed to be quite lucky and got good farms. The farm I was on was awful. After two days I injured my neck and wrists, sorting bananas. Basically bullied to work faster until the physical pain was almost unbearable. The Aussies on the farms hate backpackers and will make your life miserable, so be warned, dont stay here folks. Not a single person I lived/worked with liked banana barracks -- they described it as bearable and only stayed through desperation and a desire to get the $300 back. It's not worth it. The owners seem a bit crooked, drugs taken/ smoked on property, bar music is blaring loud until 2am when people have work at 6am. — Anonymous , Uk (2012-01-04) Run away boys and girls Unfortunately the lowest star rating you can give this place is one because being honest that is generous. Where to start? The hostel. Oh my god what an unbelievable hole, made of wood nails and corrugated metal sheet as if they had purchased it flat pack from ikea! There were beds shoved in every corner I'm honestly surprised myself and girlfriend weren't made to share a double bed with another couple! The staff are vile, giving any excuse to take away your deposit of $300 which you have to leave the minute you arrive because if you looked round first you wouldn't. The farm work is actual torture, the staff there are bullies and racist! The best way to describe the whole experience is a concentration camp! Run away seriously we have done just that it's not worth the $300 to stay! DO NOT STAY HERE SERIOUSLY! — Anonymous , England, UK (2012-01-04) Shocking Seriously boys and girls do not stay at this place, I am staying in what can best be described as a tin shed and these are the higher rated accommodation. Awful, just awful. The work they have arranged for me is hanging, basically picking up huge stacks of bananas and hooking them onto an overhead conveyor, hands are shredded, feet are shredded. Don't get me wrong i didn't expect the work to be easy but this is a joke. DO NOT STAY HERE. owners are pricks who seem to think its fine to smoke weed on their property but if you bring alcohol onto the site you LOSE your $300 deposit. this is the reason why the deposit is so high, you break the STRICT rules you lose $300. I repeat DO NOT STAY HERE!!!!! — Ads , Thailand (2011-11-02) Fantastic experience of a lifetime Banana Barracks is the best managed place I have been to. Thanks guys for making this a great place to live and make friends and for finding me an awesome job, and for caring. Tully has got everything you need. You will never be lonely, and you will have so much fun at Rafters Bar and Nightclub. There is all kinds of work, but its mostly on banana farms. Farm work starts early and ends early so you have time to relax in the swimming pool and play up in the bar or just relax using the internet, watching TV of playing pool. The nightclub operates Thursday, Friday and Saturday -- a great place to party and meet the DJ, locals and other travelers. Here you can do white water rafting and other sports if you want. Go for it! This is the place not to miss. Believe me, you won't be disappointed. — Aaron Fitzgerald , Ireland (2011-10-08) Don't go home until you have lived the experience at BB Three months at this great hostel is the best experience you can get of Oz. I was there from October to December working on a banana farm. It was hard work, but worth every minute. Just the best fun and made many friends. The place is clean and the friendly staff always helpful. Rafters has a great new nightclub to hang out. Tully is a small town, but has everything you need. Not far from the beach. — Aidan Murphey , Ireland (2011-04-27) Best times ever! Hope everything will go uphill again after the cyclone! — Anonymous , Canada (2011-04-04) This place has all and more you'll ever hope for Me and my friend just spent the best three months of our lives at Banana Barracks. This is an incredible place to stay. I was here four years ago and decided to return for month, but after seeing what Darren the owner has done to the place we decided to stay longer, and this turned into three months. There is a new nightclub too. The staff make you feel welcome as soon as you arrive. They have lots of experience in finding work for backpackers. We made so many friends. If we go back to Oz this is where we'll go. — Gav , UK (2011-03-26) Tully till I die I was here from March 2009 - August 2009, and once your in Tully, you tend to get stuck, its like the black hole of Calcutta. However, I had some of the best times of my life and made so many best friends for life, I have so many unbelievable stories of events that took place! To me it was easy money I was on around $600 a week (if your a lad you may be humping and it will be the hardest graft you have ever done but the day goes fast). Friday nights are where it all kicks of at the hostel bar and theres only one other pub in town and its where all the locals with no teeth go. Big shout out to Darren the owner and Paula on reception who saved my neck once or twice. — Ben C , English (2010-03-11) Amazing spent 6 months in tully in october 2003-onwards. time of my life, amazing people. banana picking was hard work, but well worth the experience! hostel was run really well, with loads of fun activities to keep everyone happy. Many sore heads from long nights in the rafters bar. 10/10 experience. Will never forget my time in tully as it was so unique in many ways!!!!!!!!!! — ??? haha , australia (2010-01-29) My favourite hostel in Oz, by far! This hostel is not the Hilton nor the Ritz and you have to work hard to get some money when working in bananas, but when you get a job at Banana Barracks you are indeed the luckiest person in the world! I spent two months in all at this hostel, left with friends met on the premises but came back after two months as I missed it so much, couldn't be away for too long. Stayed two more months that time and it was even better, I even got my previous job back straight away! It's not necessarily about the place but it's about the people you meet but in Tully it's both. I met some of my best friends and had the time of my life! Awesome staff (especially Paula) and good fun at Rafters all week long with some great local people. But be careful, stay away from the bar and don't drink all your money. — Jules , France (2009-08-25) Disgusting! Me, Georgia, and Emma were lucky enough to find a house share! There is no way either one of us could have coped living in the (shed) in which they describe it as a bungalow. The air con is like someone breathing warm air through the mouth and is only on at certain times in the day. There was no security and we were surprised at this, as there had been a recent attack on a young girl. The cleanliness was dreadful and we paid 150 each a week to share a box (bearing in mind the work we complete whilst we are there) yet in a three-bedroom fully air con house we were only paying 115 each! You do the maths! I felt this hostel was taking advantage of the workers as there was no other alternative. The nightlife in rafters was mediocre, and that was only due to the fact there was no alternative and everyone makes the best out of a bad situation. Which basically sums up Tully! — Shantelle , British (2009-05-12) One of the best hostels in Oz We have just finished backpacking around Oz and this place was one of the best. We ended up staying for six months because they gave us work the whole time and it's in such a beautiful part of the world. Really close to the beach where you can swim, drink, or just chill out. Whitewater rafting was wicked and the walks through the rain forest and waterfalls were too. Banana barracks are clean and friendly and the bar there is relaxed. We played lots of pool after work. There is often a crew that heads to Cairns on the weekend. You have to work pretty hard but they pay you well, better than anywhere we saw in Queensland. Definitely worth staying there if you need work or an extension on your work visa. — Anthony and Stephanie , Sweden (2008-07-07) Its not the hostel it's the people. Had the best time as everyone knows everyone. Work is hard but you appreciate the weekend so much more. This is proper traveling. — Di , England (2007-05-16) I arrived in banana barracks back in October 2005, and believe me when i say that I was really homesick to begin with. After about a week though, you start to get friendly with a lot of people, and start to enjoy it. I had the time of my life there, met a lot of friends who I shall never forget. Anna and Grant were terrific, along with the other members of staff, always there if you needed something. — Chris Hall (2006-11-25)