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The Ruins of Atlantis
Sep. 27th, 2009 06:13 pmTwo Rocks is a small seaside town about 60km north of Perth. These days it has little going for it apart from a nice marina and a dozen new developments springing up in the vicinity.
In the 80's it was known as the home of Atlantis Marine Park. A park with performing dolphins and seals (they even had a leopard seal, I don't think it performed though) and large aquariums. I went there when I was about 5, and I remember a few years later begging mum to take me back there and she promised we would soon.
Then it closed down. Apparently the money ran out or something. The dolphins were released back into the wild, but kept following boats back into the marina. Eventually AQWA (Aquarium of Western Australia - then known as Underwater World) took them in a specially built enclosure where they performed simple tricks if they were in the mood. In late 1999 one of the dolphins died mysteriously (most popular theory is poisoning), then the others died quickly afterwards (from poison? heartbreak? who knows?)
The site of Atlantis Marine Park has not been redeveloped to this day and the remains are surrounded by a fence full of holes and torn down barbed wire. Now families stroll through the site by day and teenagers have drunken parties there at night.
( Welcome to the ruins of Atlantis - (Image heavy) )
ETA: - for those who have a Facebook account - there are some great photos of the park when it was in operation here - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10063566570#/photo.php?pid=30621662&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=10063566570&aid=-1&id=1321737638&oid=10063566570
In the 80's it was known as the home of Atlantis Marine Park. A park with performing dolphins and seals (they even had a leopard seal, I don't think it performed though) and large aquariums. I went there when I was about 5, and I remember a few years later begging mum to take me back there and she promised we would soon.
Then it closed down. Apparently the money ran out or something. The dolphins were released back into the wild, but kept following boats back into the marina. Eventually AQWA (Aquarium of Western Australia - then known as Underwater World) took them in a specially built enclosure where they performed simple tricks if they were in the mood. In late 1999 one of the dolphins died mysteriously (most popular theory is poisoning), then the others died quickly afterwards (from poison? heartbreak? who knows?)
The site of Atlantis Marine Park has not been redeveloped to this day and the remains are surrounded by a fence full of holes and torn down barbed wire. Now families stroll through the site by day and teenagers have drunken parties there at night.
( Welcome to the ruins of Atlantis - (Image heavy) )
ETA: - for those who have a Facebook account - there are some great photos of the park when it was in operation here - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10063566570#/photo.php?pid=30621662&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=10063566570&aid=-1&id=1321737638&oid=10063566570
