“There’s only 3 more sleeps” my boy told his Aunt excitedly.
She was a little confused… “You mean only one more sleep? Christmas is tomorrow!”
“No!” He replied “There’s only three more sleeps till the WATER PARK!”
It’s safe to say that my kids were pretty excited that Porter Novelli invited us to a day at Adventure Park Victoria. When the day finally rolled around it was kind of on the cold side but they were not deterred… so off we went with a million changes of clothes and a hundred towels and a little apprehension on my part. My kids don’t do cold and while the girls are confident in the water they don’t really swim very well and my big boy doesn’t even like to get his hair wet! I was a little worried there would be nothing that they could do on their own and the day would be a disaster…. but I couldn’t have been more wrong!
When we got there and plonked our stuff down on some sun lounges under a fabulous shade contraption I looked around and smiled.
We were seated right in front of ‘Bonito Bay’, a huge water play area. There were squirting jets of water, fountains, squirty water guns, slides and splash pools. There was three biggish water slides, all of which ended in a big trough of knee high water rather than a big pool so I wasn’t at all worried about my girls being dumped at the bottom of the slides and not being able to find their way to the surface.
One word of caution… if you think you can climb up and take your four year old down the water slide without getting too wet… beware the HUGE bucket of water that slowly fills and then dumps gallons of freezing cold water on you just as you are waiting at the top of the slide!!!
There is a second smaller water play area and my kids spent a lot of time playing at both areas, but by far the biggest hit of the day for my girls was the Lazy River!
Again, from looking at the web site, I was a little worried about whether my girls would manage this being non-swimmers, but they were fine. The water isn’t very deep and the ‘torrents’ don’t run very fast so the girls were able to stand up and walk if they fell off their tubes (on purpose) and they spent hours going round and round and round that darn lazy river! (thanks to Misc Mum for sending me the photo of my girls and I on the river!)
There were other ‘big kid’ rides like the Aqua Racer and the Gold Rush Rapids and Wild West Canyon water slides, but my girls don’t do heights so we didn’t go on them… though I was really tempted to have a go on my own!
There is also plenty of dry action, paddle boats and canoes, bumper cars, archery, and heaps of mini golf, but it was the simple things like the giant jumping pillow and the carousel that my kids really enjoyed.
I was pleasantly surprised by Adventure Park. There were lots of things my small, non-swimming, kids could do. It was clean and the staff were all lovely.
The tickets seem a little pricey but when you consider you can spend the entire day there and not pay any extra for the rides you could certainly get your money’s worth if you were very keen. The prices are based on height (as the ride restrictions are also based on height rather than age) so it’s worth checking out the website to work out how it all works. The food was a little expensive but our fish and chips were excellent, and you could bring your own food as there are lots of picnic facilities available and lots of shade.
Adventure Park Victoria is located about half way between Geelong and Queenscliff. The Bellarine Peninsula is a lovely part of Victoria and there are lots of places to stay near by, but it’s only an hour or so from the Westgate Bridge so a very doable day trip from Melbourne.
Winner a Summer Fun Pass
Entries are now closed. Congratulations to winners Tahlia and Effie.
Thanks to Adventure Park Victoria and Porter Novelli I have two summer fun season passes to give away. These passes allow a child or adult unlimited entry to the park until April 29th 2012 and are valued at $74.99 each. For more information and conditions see the web site.
To enter leave a comment on this post telling me what your favourite wet and watery activity is. I will choose two of the the most interesting/amusing entries who will win one summer pass each.
To enter you must be an Australian resident and provide a valid email address. Entries are limited to one per household.
Entries close 6pm AEST Friday January 13th 2012, the winner will be contacted by email and announced on this post. The winner must contact me within 5 days or the prize will be re-drawn. The winner’s contact details will be passed on to Porter Novelli PR and the prize will be organised directly by them.
{Disclosure: My family were treated to a day at Adventure Park Victoria thanks to Porter Novelli Pr. We were provided with free entry and food vouchers for the day. No other compensation was provided for this post and all opinions are my own.}
Looks like an amazing day…
Our families most interesting water activity is water skiing, the older ones have been learning to kneeboard while the younger ones absolutely love going fast behind the boat on the biscuit yes even the 2yo. We have been woken up for the past week with ‘mama can we go on the biscuit now’ not to be mistaken for ‘can I have a biscuit’ as that really doesn’t go down very well with miss 2. These children are like fish they love anything and everything to do with water and made a new local pool their home since it upgraded to lots of impressive water play.
my families favourite wet and watery activity is playing with the hose, dad is always in control (of course) and the kids run around trying ‘not’ to get wet (however they always seem to get soaked) the older one seems to think its unfair that dad always gets the hose and the little one just laughs everytime she gets wet, mum gets a little grumpy when dad goes overboard with her but all in all everyone has a lot of fun.. who needs swimming pools when you’ve got a hose? :)
what a fantastic day you guys obviously had! there is nothing better then fun in the sun and fun in the water during summer!
At the moment Little E’s favourite wet and watery activity is dunking her hand in her drinking cup, which is filled with water… and then for some strange reason like to then dunk her hand back in her mouth or spread her wet hand over her table… drives me bonkers… but she loves the water in what ever way she can grab it and taste it and feel it…. strange little things sometimes :)
hope you are well xx
I always loved a good sprinkler, which has been missing in my kids lives until recently (water restrictions).
Water bomb balloons are always a good one for kids, the excitement in chasing each other around the house.
Other than that we do love to visit the beach, my daughter has just learned how to ride the waves (on the foreshore) and has been dunked a couple of times too.
mandy.ferry at gmail dot com
Our favourite water activity is ‘Water Gun Hide and Seek Tiggy’. Everyone has their own water pistol. One person is ‘it’ and everyone else goes and hides (hopefully in a shadey spot) and once you are found, you join the other person who is already ‘it’ and when it get’s to the last person they get the biggest spray by everyone else. It’s a great way for the kids to have some fun and stay cool at the same time.
I couldn’t choose 1 favourite so I’ll briefly give them all. 1. As a kid I loved running under the sprinkler. It was the closest thing we got to a pool. 2. As a parent I love playing with my kids in the shallows of the beach and squealing with them when we get splashed. 3. As just me I love swimming in deep water, feeling the water flow past.
What an awesome park! Our favourite wet & watery activity at the moment is small scale & baby friendly: iceblocks. They go down backs… down fronts… in mouths… they melt on top of the head… they skid around the kitchen floor for a game of Pong! Easy to clean up after and able to be enjoyed indoors when it’s too hot to take little ones to the beach.
My kids have just started learning how to use a boogie board, so their favourite water activity is trying to battle with the mini waves at our local beach!
I, on the other hand, prefer a dryer lifestyle (not really quite fond of the bikini, you know what I mean?) so my favourite ‘wet’ activity is downing a chilled glass of chardonnay!
Miss 10 and I love to spend lazy afternoons lying underneath our sprinkler while Dad mows the lawn or does other yard work. Summer smells like mown grass, BBQ’d snags or even manure drift by while we get dripping wet. I love that she is building similar sensory memories of Summer that I have. So far Miss 7 months will spend her time helping Dad as she isn’t sure of the sprinkler but she’ll come around one day!
Oh that looks like an awesome place! Almost convincing me that we need to go for a driving holiday around VIC.
Wow, that waterpark looks awesome I have to say.
On the New Years Day public holiday we headed out in the 40+ degree heat for my nephew’s 3rd birthday party (very dedicated and loving aunty I am!). Two paddle pools were set up, one for the littlies and the other for the ‘deep’ end for the 4-8 year olds.
My almost 1 year old niece had a splash in the paddle pool, nappy and all, and for me, my favourite thing of the day was giving her cuddles!!! She was nice and wet, and helped to keep me cool at the same time as giving me big cuddles! :)
When she had her nap I had to have a splash myself :)
When I was a kid I was desperate for a slip n slide plastic slide thingy. Since I didn’t have one I made my own( yes I was a very inventive child- if I say so myself ) which consisted of a giant piece of black plastic I found in the shed and detergent. My sister and I spent many a day slipping and sliding allover our tarp lol. We also used to love puttiing a sprinkler under the trampoline and soaping up the top. Something I have just recently starting doing with my two and my nephews. They love it as much as my sister and I do. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to win this great prize Kate.
We love to take the kids out on the boat, nothing flash but it does tow the ski tube which they love!!
I must admit when the water pistols are out i love getting my family wet and playing around the yard with them …it becomes a team mum and daughter verses Dad and son :)
my Daughter loves boggie boarding and is always nagging me to go to the surf beach. recently when we where there we had 2.5 meter waves she decided to catch one but got massively dumped. i was very relieved when she got up, even though she had a cut on her forehead but all in all she had fun!
Floating…….
I love floating……
(we would be so exited to win this, we are heading this way for a long weekend soon!)