Araluen Botanic Park is without a doubt a very pretty place to spend a sunny spring afternoon sprawled over a picnic blanket with something cold to sip on. The tulips (and dozens of other flowers) are in bloom…



 There are waterfalls and streams bubbling their way down through the valley over rocks and under enormous tree ferns accompanied by a loud frog chorus…



 There’s a cute ‘train’ ride which, for a gold coin donation, takes you up and down the steep hills around the park (unless you are superwoman I wouldn’t suggest trying to push a stroller or lug a toddler up the hills. Or down again).



 It’s all just so darned lovely to look at but the grassed areas and overpriced café aside ($5 coffee anyone?) there isn’t really much for little ones to do and because of the number of waterfalls, streams and pools around the extensive grounds it isn’t really somewhere you can let small children go wandering around safely. Not to mention the broken glass in one of the shallow streams where kids were paddling and playing.

But then Araluen isn’t meant to be a day out for the kids – it’s advertised as ‘a passive recreation park’ on their website (‘passive’, ‘park’ and ‘kids’ - hmmm) - no ball games are allowed on the lawn, there’s no play equipment, there’s nothing specifically child-oriented. It’s undeniably a place of great natural beauty, a place for BBQs and picnics with family and friends surrounded by beautiful bushland and floral displays. It was worth the entry fee for one visit ($4 adults, $2 children 5-16 yrs) but now that we’ve seen it there isn’t much else to lure us back again.




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