Somersby - Australian Reptile Park

 When it comes to entertaining guests and showing them around what ever city I end up in I try to incorporate art or end up at a destination I know will entertain them, but more importantly,  myself.

This surprisingly took me awhile to think of. It's been high on my list for awhile and my brothers kids liking dinosaurs it rally was a perfect fit. This amazing facility is choc filled with dinosaurs for them and larger than life sculptures for me.

The Australian Reptile Park has a fair few things that could be considered BIG Things. 
Most people will chalk these down to 'touist attractions' or simply oversized sculptures since they're promotional and require a fee to see. The BIG Frilled-neck Lizard is the only sculpture at the Somersby Reptile Park that you can photograph without having to pay an admission fee

I explored the place extensively. Here's the highlights!

There's a smaller, more run down, I'm assuming plastic version of this bad boy in some grass near the turn off to enter the parking area for The Australian Reptile Park. This entry statements is by far the most notable making it to everyone's roadside attraction list of things to visit.

It's a beautiful sculpture. It required patience to get photos of as the park was extremely busy the day we went with people coming and going.

Once inside you're going to be met with a few dinos which begins the parks 'Dino hunt'

One of the first things we encountered upon entering the facility was an animated dinosaur dance. I once visited the Melbourne Zoo to see their animated Frog Walk but missed the display and glad I go to see this one. 

The dinosaurs exited the wooden crate and roared, walked and danced their hearts our for 2 minutes before returning. I didn't capture this on video but here's a video of them roughly doing the same thing during a mid day talk they interrupted.

After the first event we had lunch where I found my first couple of items on my list of things to visit.
The first is a very large frog. I'd come across pictures of him before and while I know he was once hosted at an Airport to raise money for frog conservation I cant recall which airport. Brisbane or Perth perhaps.

This area was my favorite. Lined with picnic tables to eat lunch it was lined with sculptures, a playground and murals lining the walls to create a brighter space.

None of the murals were tagged. They appeared to be the work of two different artists and hope I come across their creators in future.

Walking around the park you'll encounter a lot of different dinosaurs. I may have missed a few but here's all the ones I found

Pterodactyl

Komodo Dragon

Megalania

Raptor

T Rex

Baby Triceratops 

Adult Triceratops 

There's all sorts of small sculpture throughout the newest section of the park dedicated to frog conservation and  you'll find  a tidy frog water fountain within the parks gift store.

Between your entry and the cafe you're going to have two amazing exhibits and each room contains a wonderful sculpture to photograph. I'll start with the Croc Pharaoh. I'm not sure how long it takes from him to  activate but his speech goes for 2 minutes. You'll enter his toom via the amazing Crocodiles mouth

There was no room full of smoke that I'd seen in photos nor did his mouth move. A flicker of ceiling lights and eyes followed by the sound of thunder begins a two minute speech I couldn't quite hear due to the sound of other viewers. He is easy on the eyes though and remains the highlight of my visit!

Next you have a room dedicated to creepy crawlies. The star is a 1.5m BIG Funnel Web Spider. The funnel web spider was a star of the mid day show and the park keepers milked a spider for the crowd along with information for every joe bloke to capture and donate spiders to the park for the National venom program. If you watch closely you'll see the spiders arms moving.

For lunch we indulged with our dine and discover vouchers and let the kids play on the playground that was, of course, reptile themed. 

This was followed by a walk to the kamado dragons den and then the walk around the animal enclosures. 

I already have one of these koalas in my BIG Thing gallery. You'll find the BIG Koala in Gundagai to be a popular stop for tourist and kitchy photo collectors and I've discovered these koalas are very common at wildlife and tourist parks. 

Last but not least was Ploddy the dinosaur. We didnt find him within the park and wa told by the gift store attendant access to him was no longer available through the park or their car park. The kids were getting cranky so a detour to check the backroads in for access wasnt an option but I'd need a drone for a nice photo and didnt have it with me. 

Next time! We did pull over on the side of the road to try capture him with a landscape lens. It's not the best photograph but if I never make it back there this will have to do.

Ploddy was built in 1963. The same year as Australia's first BIG Thing, the BIG Scotsman. I would almost claim this to be Australia's first BIG Thing had it been build pre November but he's more life sized and would suit Roadside Attraction more. 

Ploddy was created as an attraction for the original Reptile park and was originally a poop color. He's been repainted and relocated in 1996 when the Wildlife park relocated. He was constructed by BIG Thing hero Ken Mayfield.