Fairy Park is the perfect story of the richness immigrants are bringing to Australia
If you are a parent of young children then holiday period comes with mixed feelings—you are excited to spend time with your family and get away from all the work hustle but at the same time, keeping your kids engaged could add another level of stress in itself. So when we went to Fairy Park and our four-year-old asked, ‘when are we coming back?’, we felt like successful parents though only for a bit before both of our kids started screaming at each other and were out for each other’s blood.
Fairy Park is the perfect story of the richness that immigrants are bringing to Australia. Almost 60 years ago, in 1959, the Mayer family—Peter and Elisabeth along with their son Helmut immigrated to Australia from Germany. They dreamed about creating a magic land and worked to create gnomes, elves and fairies from clay. Their weekends turn into clearing the bushes, rocks and tree stumps and preparing for the new figures and fabricated homes. The dream turned into a reality in 1959 when the park was opened to public. Fairy Park is the oldest theme park in Australia.
The park is located in Anakie, about an hour drive from Melbourne and 30 minutes from Geelong. While the park is perfect for small kids, it also brings the adults, down memory lane of a time when things use to be simple. A time where you press a button, you hear a story without distractions and then discuss the story with the family.
The park sits on top of a hill which has its own enchantment. There is stunning panoramic view from the top of Mt Anakie’s extinct volcano and beautiful landscape all around. While the path to the top can be steep in parts, it’s well maintained, pram-friendly and our kids (8 yr old and 4 yr old) were walking on their own. There are over 22 animated scenes which bring fairy tales to life, just at the push of a button. There are so many stories ranging from Aladdin, Cinderella, Snow White, Red Riding Hood to Rapunzel. Like most theme parks, the path is designed in a way so that one can cover all of these stories without missing anything. (Article continues after photo gallery)
At the top of park, the castle has a train museum and huge model of train set. And as you may have guessed by now, the train set comes to life by the push of a button. This is one of the largest collections of rare Marklin model trains in Australia.
The high point of the tour is definitely the Camelot adventure playground. The playground kept the kids busy with the older one climbing walls while younger one enjoying the slippery slide.
There is also a café onsite which serves hot food and coffee. One can also bring own food and enjoy in many picnic areas around. There are also multiple electric BBQs to cook and have a family picnic.
It’s important that you check the park website for open days as park is not open on all the days as well as food outlet also operates on certain days. The park’s website also deserves an applause as it contains all the key information to plan your trip.
Overall, it was a great experience and we can’t wait to head back again.
For more info go to www.fairypark.com
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