Greenhills Park - Adventuring We Come

It's been School Holidays here in Australia last week and this week, and whilst the weather's been a bit hit and miss, and I've been at work, I did manage to take Thursday off so that we could hit the road and enjoy a family moment whilst the weather was good (28 degreesC and sunny). Our idea?... to head down to Victor Harbor to visit Greenhills Adventure Park.

Now Victor Harbor is about 95+km from Adelaide, and it can take 1.5 hours (approx) to drive down there in good traffic. It's actually one of the big holiday attraction sites in South Australia, and is the focus of many holiday pilgrimages. Greenhills Adventure Park is just on the outskirts of the town, and for the three of us (not including our daughter) there was a $100 entry fee. That, as the sign says, entitles you to do most of the rides and activities...  for the whole day. Today, as we had business in town (and because we're notorious slow-starters) we arrive around 11am.

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The main attractions in the park are the slides... our son of course loved them. The wave ride was his first turn,.. just grab a piece of carpet and launch yourself down. 

Don't forget to stop though...

After a few quick rides, L-kun hit the jack-pot... the water slides (of which there are two). They may not be the biggest or the scariest in the State, but they looked fun (especially for a 5 year old).

And as our son loooooooves water, this was definitely his most favourite attraction.

Over and over and over again...

Of course - on this slide, stopping has only one logical conclusion. Splash!

And no sooner had the droplets hit the ground and he was racing up the (many) stairs to begin the process again.

And again....

And again....

And even though he was shivering quite a bit (it was warm, but I'm sure the water was cold) he insisted that he continue on. No time for a towel mum! Got to go again!

And whilst that was happening, we were enjoying another sort of family moment, with our daughter. Now proudly sitting up! All by herself... cutie!

And was really having a good time looking around (what's not clear in this shot was just how many people were at the Park... lots of them).

L-kun and I then tried out the canoes down along the Hindmarsh River. Hindmarsh River may sound large... it is, most definitely not. Indeed the water level was particularly low  - so much so that they had warning signs up at the top where you got your life-jackets. And whilst the water was low, I had not quite expected the sand bars across the river (at points there was perhaps only 10 cm of water... which meant for parts you had to physically pull yourself across the sand bar (or like we did, use your paddles as mountaineering poles).

 

We had been gone for about 20mins (in which time Daddy started to learn out to actually use a canoe, through trial and error... mostly error) when I decided to turn back. That didn't meet to my sons pleasure however - as he insisted that EVERYONE was going to the end, and that we had to as well. The end, however was the sea. 3 hours away. I explained that to my son... but 3 hours has a different meaning to a 5 year old.

On eventually returning (tired), the assistant asked us (in all seriousness), had we seen any snakes? - apparently the day before several river snakes had tried to get into people's canoes. Nice to know that AFTER we got back. Seriously I was a little shocked... I mean, they have signs up everywhere that you use the rides at your own risk - but I can't see that this absolves them of their duty of care to the customers. A bit of information, peoples, goes a long way!

There are other rides/activities, but L-kun loves slides... 

Even when they don't quite go to plan....

But if at first you don't succeed....

And as the sun started sinking, L-kun and Mum grabbed their life jackets and headed out on a paddle boat (Daddy had learned his lesson).

And they were off... for some quality time together. Mum the muscle, and L-kun the driver. They made for an impressive team.

And even with only 15 mins before closing, L-kun insisted on another run at the water slide. It must have been cold, but he really REALLY enjoyed it. And just to show that he wasn't too worried about the cold (he laughs in the face of danger... and colds) he grabbed an ice-cream for himself too!

In the end - it was a fantastic though exhausting day... even for Daddy who didn't do that much, it was exhausting. I think we can definitely recommend Greenhills, and especially as the weather starts to warm up. It's just a shame that we didn't have a chance to see much of Victor Harbor as well. Perhaps next time....