Situated in the beautiful Tweed Valley, Tropical Fruit World offers an interactive activity for the whole family. Growing over 500 varieties of tropical fruits from around the world, visitors can taste, smell and touch rare exotic fruits such as the chocolate pudding fruit, chewing gum tree and lemon meringue fruit. As well as the health benefits and gourmet uses of each fruit, on request they will share with you the revolutionary techniques they’ve developed to successfully garden and farm the more exotic fruits. Come aboard the Plantation Safari for a guided tour of the farm, explore Treasure Island, and adventure on to the Miniature Rail Ride, Jungle River Cruise and Fauna Park. Don’t forget to stock up on exotic fruit, home-style gourmet jams and sauces, and avocado oil skin care products before you leave!
Miniature Train Ride: The easiest way to see the Island is to hop aboard our mini-train that heads off under a canopy of trees to encircle the Island. On the way it goes around a large lagoon covered with the blazing colours of a mass of waterlilly varieties. More often than not it pauses to let the passengers see a free-range koala feast on the eucalypts covering the train track or a water dragon scramble across the track and plunge into the rainforest waterway. Invariably, everybody wants to be young and ride the mini-train.
Jungle River Cruise: All aboard the “Waterdragon” for a cruise along a jungle river teeming with wildlife. From the comfort of the river boat, you can feed the wild birds, spot the strongest bird in the world, and keep an eye out for waterdragons, turtles and often a carpet snake coiled contentedly on a branch just out of reach. This is a slow down, wind down ride of great beauty and tranquillity, all the way from Treasure Island to the Rainforest Animal Park.
Plantation Safari: All aboard the tractor train for a safari through a plantation laden with 500 kinds of fruit – from the Amazon, the Andes, Central America, India, China, South East Asia, and the native bush foods of Australia. Who knows, you may stop along the plantation trail to crack some macadamia nuts under the trees, to see how avocados grow, to look at the world’s largest tree-borne fruit, and to sample some kind of fruit straight from the tree. Your tour guide knows how to inform you with facts to hold your interest and things to entertain young and old along the way. When you get through, he will tempt you to try a fruit ice-cream fantasy, a giant parfait or a fruit cocktail drink to send your tastebuds into a spin.
Fauna Park: The “Waterdragon” craft pulls in at Palm Jetty where there is farm and native animals waiting for a friendly pat and a handout. Meet Sherman, the biggest horse around with the big white socks, and Jacko the smallest breed of horse in the world, some farm calves or lambs that beg for a feed, or go into the fauna enclosure to feed the kangaroos and emus. The rainforest setting of the animal park would almost cause you to envy the residents that live in such a paradise
