Luna Park.... Back to the Future

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Have you visited Luna Park yet? Was the cry from the bell staff at the hotel - (no I hadn't it looked cheap, tacky and worse than Brighton Pier) I was urged to take the 5 minute ferry ride to go see it. So begrudgingly i did.

This place is a museum piece, and if you are a Sydneyer you either love it or hate it. Its been closed down and re-opened 5 times and I can understand why. As you step off the ferry you are greeted by a smiling 20ft sunshine, that at night lights up. You enter through its mouth and are immediately transported back to the 60's and very reminiscent of Southport Pleasure Park that I went to when I was 5. Here both excited kids and adults run around with rip off wristbands on rides that have seen better days. All hidden behind garish and bright hoardings we would have seen on our piers in the UK back in the 60's, The usual line up is here, dodgems, the rotor, the crazy mouse rollercoaster (but not a scratch on the one at Brighton Pier), candy floss stalls, clowns walking around - I almost felt as if I was sleeping and having a garish nightmare... or for those of you who have watched the film that Chuckie was about to jump out and stab you - all very surreal and a little bit disturbing.

I decided to head out of the Park swiftly and into the calm surroundings of the neighbourhood, here a local resident gave me a potted history and was interested in my views of Luna. Luna Park is seen as a heritage site by most, because they grew up with it and in it. However, for those that bought near it they were the ones that fought to keep it closed and the Sydneyers know it. So whenever a concert is put on, and that happens frequently, the spectators/audience make sure that the local residents know about it by roaring as loudly as they can before, during and after the event - nice eh?

So I make my way back to the future no longer feeling like Marty McFly stuck in the 60's with the Mad Professor, but more like Bobby with a rumbling tummy and time for dinner at Manly Beach

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