Back in 1985, my parents took my visiting Canadian grandparents to the Atlantis Marine Park about 60km north of Perth, Western Australia. 30 years later, my dog and I decided to go visit this now-abandoned park, and to say hello to King Neptune.
The park itself was way ahead of its time, and was part of a bigger real-estate play by the Bond Corporation in anticipation of a huge tourism and population explosion which would drive the WA state economy.
There's a longer story about the failure of the infamous Bond Corporation, but suffice to say the tourism and housing explosion they expected when they opened the park in 1981 never occurred and by 1988 the park was closed. The animals were released or relocated to a nearby aquarium, and all of the pools were filled in.
But, it's a bit harder to relocate a 50ft statue, and for the past 30 years King Neptune has been left to watch over the lost kingdom of Atlantis, as the bush slowly grew back.
I guess there was always a bit of bush around, but at least they had paths and gardens 
But other than Neptune, there's not a lot left.
A few concrete barriers mark the edges of old pools
A few crumbly limestone walls.
A few water tanks
And all kinds of random statues, hidden in the scrub
The star of the show now is definitely King Neptune.
You can even climb up the rickety scaffolding on the inside if you're feeling brave
I have never claimed to be a brave man
My dog's not so good at climbing either
I'm not sure why, but the idea that Neptune is still sitting up there has captivated me for years, since first seeing a photo of him on an urban exploration post someone shared on Facebook. However, despite being back in Perth for 5 years, I'd never gone to check him out, so I'm super glad I did.
With the urban sprawl finally catching up to the theme park, 30 years later, what's really cool si that the land developers behind the "Atlantis Beach" estate are apparently keeping the statue as the centrepiece of a new public garden/park. So it looks like he'll be around for many more generations to enjoy.
Fare thee well, old friend.
What a trippy place!
So much fun though!
Is there anything else out there or just a ghost town?
The urban sprawl has caught up, so within a couple of years it'll all be suburbia with a giganto statue in the middle.
Currently the suburbs surround a big scrub/bush park
Wow, cool pictures! I have stopped through the town of Two Rocks a couple of times but never connected the dots that it was a former theme park! I always just thought now damn isn't that a cool statue hahah!
Yeah it's crazy when you look at that second photo and see how much was there, compared to now.
It was definitely 20-30 years before its time.. but right after the America's Cup and they thought WA would have explosive growth. It's only now that the urban sprawl has caught up and surrounded it.
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It always looks a bit weird when places like that just get abandoned and are left to decay.. Pretty eerie i bet
I've been to a few abandoned places and it's been like that, for sure. Didn't get too much of that vibe here because it was mainly just bush and scrub.
I guess maybe because it was a place I went as a kid, I was just running around with this feeling of nostalgia... although to be fair I was 2 in 1985.
yes it does feel as if you know the place when you were there as a child
Verry nice Photos.
I like, that you've searchd the same perspective like in the old photos!
Pure coincidence, I swear! Otherwise I'd have got it a bit closer, for sure!
I took these photos a couple months ago and I've been waiting for my dad to dig out and scan the old family photos for me... just got them in today and it's amazing to see how close some of them were!
Oh, that's awsome! I thought you had the old pictures and then took your photos!
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