Urban Exploring: My Dog & I explore abandoned Atlantis Marine Park, 32 years after my grandparents visited as tourists

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.

(this photo from WA state library, the rest are mine)

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.

(my friend Dave is holding my dog because there's a 25 foot drop on the other side... two seconds later when we turned to go my dog jumped up on the wall)

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.