Oh Help, Oh No, It’s A Gruffalo At The Illawarra Fly

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark woods….

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the much-loved children’s book ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson, the Illawarra Fly are welcoming families of all ages to come and take a stroll through their magical spotters trail.

Without a doubt, The Gruffalo its my three-year old’s absolute favourite book. We read it at least 2-3 times a day, every day. Even the pet goldfish must know the words of by heart now! So when the opportunity came up to review the new Spotters trail, my hand shot up in a flash.

Located just a short drive from Bowral, (directions of how to get there here) the Illawarra Fly is a great day out, especially for those who love a bit of adventure as it’s the home the famous treetop walk and zipline tours. You can read more about them here. 

For lovers of the book, you will obviously recognise the flow of the story; mouse, fox, owl etc and that’s the same along the trail. Your child will receive a booklet with stickers, and you can also download the interactive app to play along with too. Download before you go as reception at Illawarra Fly is weak. Follow the path through the deep dark woods and look out for the clues. The app will produce the characters for you in augmentated reality and the kids had a lot of fun pretending to engage with them. Why not stop and post a letter to the resident wombat Dozer and keep your eyes and ears peeled to spot a lyre bird.

The path wraps right around, including incorporating the famous treetop walk. The last and final clue to find the Gruffalo himself takes you off the pram friendly path and into the bush itself. Perhaps our own fault for not asking but this section of the walk is NOT pram friendly (our wheel broke off!) so either pack the carrier or divide into two teams at the juncture if you can.

All in all, my Gruffalo loving son had a great time, it really brought the book to life for him. It took us around 1 hour to complete from start to finish. We then drove to the nearby famous Robertson Pie shop for lunch – the mum saw the pie and the pie looked good!

Find out more about the Gruffalo Spotters Trail at Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventures here.

 

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