Australia: Any coaster gems around Sydney or Melbourne?

Hi,

I'll be off to Sydney and Melbourne for most of July.
Any suggestions on where to get a decent coaster thrill over there?
Looking up Australia in various databases (such as rcdb) didn't bring up much.
Guess I should be going to Cali instead.

Didn't someone's sig a while back say that Austraila's best coaster is a second hand arrow, or something along those lines? :)

Yes, you're right california would have a been a better coaster option. But Australia is a truely stunning country.

Onto the coasters. 1 old woddie in melbourne's Luna park.

1 old mouse in sydneys Luna park. and thats it for the 2 biggest cities in the country. Good heh!!! They just closed sydneys wonderland, which had a boomerang and a big woodie (piece of crap though)

If you want some coasters go up to the gold coast, where you have 3 theme parks plus a water park.

Sea world has the corkscrew- which is old but fun and surprsingly smooth.

WBMW has a Vekoma slc with the extra helix- Its fine, ok its a bit rough but it will have to do. Also an excellent themed mouse (based on scooby doo), this is a really fun coaster. And also a familly vekoma coaster.

Dreamworld also has 3 coasters. The arrow looper which was at sydneys luna park. Its ok. Also a very smooth mine train mouse. And the best coaster in Australia is Tower of Terror. Which is the single track brother of Superman the escape from SFMM, but this one works!!

Hope that helps, there are a couple of websites
they are
roller-coaster.com.au
totalthrills.com.
ozcoaster.net

Have a great time.

James

I believe it was my signature some time ago which said something along the lines of Australia's best being a second hand coaster, but I'd say that's changed with Scooby-Doo.

Sydney or Melbourne aren't the place to go if you're after parks. Get yourself on a flight to the Gold Coast and you've got Australia's four largest parks within 20 minutes of one another, each unique and different enough to warrant a vist.

And of course, you can't just do theme parks, which I'm guessing isn't the reason behind your visit. See Melbourne and Sydney, which are both fantastic cities in their own ways, and also get out to see some of Australia'a nature side, which in my unbiased opinion is the best in the world. You'll also be coming at the peak of our ski season, so if that's your thing head up to the mountains so you can learn the true definition of powderless snow.

California's nice and all, but outside of the few scattered parks (which are generally pretty good), Australia's a much much nicer place. ;)

By all means check out the sites mentioned. If you've got any questions about anything Australian (not just coaster-related), feel free to send me an email. :)

*** Edited 6/24/2004 1:18:14 PM UTC by auscoasterman***

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auscoasterman said:

And of course, you can't just do theme parks, which I'm guessing isn't the reason behind your visit.

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Correct - I would *never* visit a country with so little coasters voluntarily! :)) (What the hell drove me to attach a 3 week vacation to my "business" related trip?)

Still, having ridden STE several times, I'm of course rather curious to check out the southern-hemisphere counterpart- but imagining the drive from Sydney all the way - Australia is such a mind blowingly big country and driving from A to B in a car doesn't seem make much sense at all.

So I guess I'll check out Sydney and Melbourne in more detail and take some round trips through the countryside and along the coast.

Thanks for all the help!

Greetings,

jo

*** Edited 6/24/2004 10:20:40 PM UTC by superman***

Sydney -> Gold Coast is around a 10 or 12 hour drive depending on how it goes. Of course, it'll only cost you around AUD$75 each way (Jetstar), which is surely cheaper than car fuel and is only an hour flight, so you can use those two days you'd otherwise use driving for doing stuff. Did I mention the beaches up here are a heck of a lot nicer up here than in Sydney too, and it might just be warm enough up here for a dip, which it wouldn't be down there. :) *** Edited 6/25/2004 12:27:13 AM UTC by auscoasterman***

I was under the impression that Luna Park on the harbour in Sydney had closed. I did get to ride the Arrow there in 2000. The wooden mouse there was very much SBNO.

The one thing you MUST MUST MUST do in Sydney is the BridgeClimb. It's a guided, tethered tour across the Harbour Bridge, and it's just breathtaking. You will never forget it.

http://www.bridgeclimb.com/

Can anyone in Sydney -- or who has been to Sydney very recently -- confirm or deny the demise of Luna Park?

Jo. Dont drive unless you are in no rush at all. There are some great places along the way from Sudney to the gold coast (Port stevens, Port Mcquarie, Byron Bay) just to name a few, so if you have time take a week to do the drive and stop at places along the way. If you dont have time to stop it is a hell of long drive and gets very tedious. Fly.

Xrae- Luna park has had a tempetious history to say the least. Clsed down and re-opened a couple of times. It closed down after the olympics because the nearby residents (pricks) complained about the noise created by the Big Dipper (arrow looper) Sorry stupid residents but the park was there before you lot moved in-They knew that there would be noise, but complained anyway and caused the whole park to close.

The big dipper, which is a fun ride, was much better at Luna park than its new home at Dreamworld on the Gold coast. The most awesome setting of any coaster i have ridden (about to be overtaken by Thunder Dolphin when i get to Tokyo in August i think). As you went up the lift hill you had all of sydney and the harbour bridge, and opera house in front of you. Spectacular.

The park is now back open, with basically all the old rides (except the big dipper) working again. The park has also got the wodden mouse working again. They have built a big car park and an arena there also. It has been getting quite good crowds, even though we are in winter. Fingers crossed it can survive and make some money now.
http://www.lunaparksydney.com/
Here is the link to its web site.

The bridge climb is a lot of fun (if a bit expensive) its a very uniquely Sydney thing to do.

Have fun.

James

Don't skip Luna Park (or any part of St. Kilda) in Melbourne. Luna Park has free entry, and the Scenic Railway is the second oldest coaster in the world (and has operated far more consistently than Leap The Dips anyay). It is fun, and very, very scenic.

If you have some time to spare in Sydney, take a trip up to Byron Bay (about an hour south of the Queensland/NSW border) .. probably the nicest little spot on the entire planet.

But in reality you should skip Melbourne and Sydney all together (they're just cities), and do a camping tour up through Central Australia and down the west coast. You won't believe how amazing it is.. Visiting Australia and spending all your time on the east coast is a bit of a waste, it's all so American-like you'd be better off saving your money and just going to Florida or Hawaii (except that the beaches in Australia are nicer). While Central Australia is unlike anything else in the world..!

Cameron.

But Cam, I believe that superman is from somewhere in Europe - you are the person (superman) that usually brings us news from Germany and such right? And the holder of the Anton bible?

auscoasterman - what exactly is "powderless" snow? Now, I'm an Eastern US skiier through and through (my one experience with powder this winter in Utah landed me with a bum knee I'm still in rehab for), so is "powderless" more what I'm used to (basically ice?) *** Edited 6/28/2004 7:37:23 PM UTC by Impulse-ive***

Sounds like you know the stuff. Cold enough for the water to turn to the white stuff, but not nearly cold enough for any decent fluff to form. Not bad stuff, but hardly what you'll find in Europe or out west or in Canada.

I do also agree with Cameron. Go see the country. The cities are nice, you'll probably find them to be pretty different to anything you've got, but at least take a few days to get a few hours out into nowhere. Get a Lonely Planet guide for Australia if you haven't already, that should give a few ideas. :)