Australia Reptile Park

[sunscreen]

I am looking at a tour from Sydney for just the Australia Reptile park as it is approx 1 hr drive from Sydney.  I only could find one and it combines a dolphin cruise and the sand dunes which I do not want.  Would rather spend all the time at the park.   Any suggestions would be appreciated...

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, sunscreen said:

Would rather spend all the time at the park.

 

Then why don't you just rent a car for the day and drive yourself there? It's an easy drive and, by the looks of things, not a difficult place to find.

[sunscreen]

Neither of us wants to attempt to drive there.  lol

 

[Kiwi Kruzer]

If you are talking about the one at Gosford , just take the train and order a taxi to meet you and take you to the park. When you are ready to return just phone or prebook a taxi back to the train.

https://reptilepark.com.au/visitors/#getting-there

[mr walker]

If you don't want to drive (understandable) an option would be to take a train to Gosford station - direct line on the Intercity Network from Sydney's Central Station, and just take a taxi or Uber to the park from there.

[The_Big_M]

I'd take the train ahead of driving. You still have to get to the rental place, and even their website says 1 hour "from outer Sydney" which the cruise terminal isn't. I'd say it'd be easily 2 hours from getting the car to get there.

 

By contrast, Gosford is a major station and assuming you're at OPT, Circular quay is right at your doorstep. Train is much easier and total travel time should be similar. Cost is likely similar.

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

... even their website says 1 hour "from outer Sydney" which the cruise terminal isn't. I'd say it'd be easily 2 hours from getting the car to get there.

 

I agree that "outer Sydney" is rather vague, but I can drive from the Chatswood area to Terrigal (which is further than Gosford) in a little over an hour so it would surprise me if it were to take 2 hours from central Sydney. A close friend used to go from the same area to Gosford about once a week for work and never hinted that it took as long as that.

 

And the Reptile Park is just off the motorway: even Google Maps says it's just over an hour from central Sydney, and only 35 minutes from Hornsby (which might be a plausible candidate for "outer Sydney").

 

But if the OP simply doesn't want to drive, then that's that. A quick and dirty search suggests that the train from Central to Gosford alone is between 1¼ and 1½ hours.

[The_Big_M]

6 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

I agree that "outer Sydney" is rather vague, but I can drive from the Chatswood area to Terrigal (which is further than Gosford) in a little over an hour so it would surprise me if it were to take 2 hours from central Sydney.

 

I wasn't meaning to drive. I meant for the passenger to get from the ship to the car rental outlet, queue, check out the vehicle, , get familiar, then do the drive. 

 

When they're giving the estimate it's from the perspective of you being ready to drive from that location. In this case, there's overhead in getting ready to drive as well which adds to the time.

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

I wasn't meaning to drive. I meant for the passenger to get from the ship to the car rental outlet, queue, check out the vehicle, , get familiar, then do the drive. 

 

When they're giving the estimate it's from the perspective of you being ready to drive from that location. In this case, there's overhead in getting ready to drive as well which adds to the time.

 

Sorry, I must have misunderstood you when you said "it'd be easily 2 hours from getting the car to get there".

[The_Big_M]

Yes, perhaps I should have added "to" between "getting" and "the" to help clarity.

[Cruise___master]

On 12/14/2018 at 1:34 AM, sunscreen said:

I am looking at a tour from Sydney for just the Australia Reptile park as it is approx 1 hr drive from Sydney.  I only could find one and it combines a dolphin cruise and the sand dunes which I do not want.  Would rather spend all the time at the park.   Any suggestions would be appreciated...

What about toronga zoo? Cruise ships often more at circular quay which is the same place the public ferry leaves from that goes to toronga zoo. This takes 30 minutes and 5 dollars to cruise across to. I just don’t get why you would want to sit in traffic to get to a reptile park when toronga zoo is soo close 😕

[The_Big_M]

Depends what you're looking for. Taronga Zoo is a great general zoo... but the reptile park is probably better if you want only to interact with Australian animals.

[GUT2407]

48 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

Depends what you're looking for. Taronga Zoo is a great general zoo... but the reptile park is probably better if you want only to interact with Australian animals.

Yep, can’t argue with that.