The Carousel
What would Geelong's favourite waterfront spot be without the magical carousel where children are smiling and laughing with excitement in their eyes and one or two of them crying after the anticipation of visiting this wonderful masterpiece is all too much and has left them exhausted.
Round and round they go
Not surprisingly the carousel puts a smile on everyone's face. Parents smile at the joy on their children's faces, grandparents smile through reminiscing, and children just love the pretty horses going round and round.
The carousel building
Entry to the carousel building is free, you only need to buy tickets if you a riding on the carousel.
Ticket costs are $3.90 for children, $4.40 for adults and $3.90 for concession.
Inside the building are table and chairs in the sunshine overlooking the water, a kiosk, a band organ playing delightful carnival style music that's synonymous with amusement fairs, a steam engine and displays of unrestored horses and the processes involved in restoring them.
The restoration process of the horses is shown here
There is so much history with these beautiful horses and carousel; 24 of the 36 horses are original hand carved masterpieces from Charles Dare. Each of the horses took approximately 300 hours each to restore. The horses tails are real horse hair.
Organ
The whole restoration including the horses took 3 years to complete. Extensive research was needed to make sure the result was authentic. Amazingly, 40 layers of paint were scraped back to reveal the original colours.
Ride on the carousel
The carousel has really been a labour of love for everyone involved and it shows in the results of this beautifully crafted amusement piece.
Geelong waterfront
I highly recommend a visit to 'The Carousel', it's a great opportunity to ride on the beautiful antique carousel that wouldn't be out of place in a museum. Rarely would you get the chance anywhere else in the world to ride on such an old piece of work like this.
A truly unique experience as long as you understand the history behind it and the painstaking restoration work needed to get it to this point.
