Australian Reptile Park
Located just over an hour’s drive north of Sydney on the NSW Central Coast, the Australian Wildlife Park is an excellent place to see some of Australia’s deadly wildlife. If you want to get up close with deadly snakes, spiders and crocodiles, this is the place for you.
Getting There
Located not far from Gosford on the New South Wales Central Coast it’s a one hour drive up the M1 from Sydney or about one and a quarter hours south of Newcastle. A large carpark is available on site with an overflow carpark located adjacent to the entrance.
Tickets
Tickets ca be purchased on the day at the entrance, but purchasing them online is cheaper. If you have a family, tickets are available for this too. You can even add food for the animals for children to feed the kangaroos.
The Exhibits
We arrived just on opening time when many of the animals had just been fed, so many of them were active.
Spiders
Possibly one of the most important aspects of the wildlife park is their work with Sydney Funnel Web Spiders. A single bite will kill an adult and the production of anti venom is very important. The Reptile Park has a large number on site and milk the spiders daily to collect their venom.
We were lucky enough to see one of the keepers let a spider out into a larger container while she collected its venom. It was a very angry and aggressive spider but she wasn’t worried and calmly used a pipette to suck the venom off its fangs.
Snakes and Lizards
Of course the main reason for the visit is to see some of the most dangerous snakes in the world. All nicely viewed safely through glass. All of Australia’s venomous snakes are represented along with others such as the North American rattlesnake.
Many school children have excursions here at various times, where they are taught how to respect snakes and what to do if you see one in the wild. Most snakes will avoid confrontation unless it’s unavoidable.
Many lizards are on display from blue tongue and shingle back lizards to Komodo dragons. Although not Australian the Komodo’s are a big attraction with their own large enclosure.
Frogs
The Reptile Park has a breeding programme for endangered frogs which has been a great success with numerous tadpoles and small frogs produced. The breeding area is at the back of the park and although there are a lot of ponds and aquariums present only some of the frogs can be seen.
This is associated with Aussie Ark which is responsible for the Tasmanian Devil breeding programme saving them from the facial cancer that is decimating them in the wild.
There is also a large area set aside for breeding some of the endangered turtle species. These programs are very important and really compliments the funnel web venom collection and education that the park undertakes.
Wild life
A large area near the entrance allows visitors to interact with kangaroos which are roaming around. Nearby enclosures contained dingoes, koalas and Tasmanian devils. A huge saltwater crocodile has its own pool not far away. The park also has a lake filled with alligators.
Food and Refreshments
The park has a kiosk that sells a variety of food and drinks, or you can bring your own and sit and the undercover tables provided.
If the kids or kids at want to see really big reptiles a number of dinosaur statues are located near the picnic facilities (we know they’re not really reptiles).
What Did We Think?
This was a great day out and we spent several hours here. You could easily spend longer with children or if you took part in the special activities available.
