Description: Sydney's Lunapark stands proudly on the North Shore of Sydney's Jackson Harbour, entered through a huge laughing face of a clown flanked by two fairytale castle towers, colourful in the daytime and glitteringly lit at night.

An amusement park was opened at the location in 1935, soon after the Harbour Bridge was constructed and one has been operating here for most of the time since, although the management, the rides and the opening times varied, and the whole park was rebuilt several times, notably for three years in the early 1980's due to safety concerns (a disastrous fire resulted in a death of seven people in 1979).

The current park has been open since 2004, but the character of a lot of what's on offer harks back to the 1930's origins of the Park: there is quaintness about the LunaPark that is missing in the biggest and most modern amusement centres, and it can seem hopelessly lame or charmingly old-fashioned depending on your mindset.

The park has a selection of rides that will be probably most attractive to older school-aged children (8 to 12 year olds), though there is much to do for younger ones too.

There are three types of tickets (and the price depends on whether you are taller or shorter than 130cm): a 30 AUD one (at the time of writing in 2010) that allows unlimited rides everywhere, a 20 AUD one that lets you use five of the most popular rides (Dodgems, Carousel, Ferris Wheel, Wild Mouse, and the play area of Coney Island) and one-off tickets at 10 AUD per ride.

We have visited with out nine and four year olds and chose to get the 20 AUD tickets for all participants (your reviewer was mercifully spared nausea-inducing whirls), as we had limited amount of time and even the older child wasn't sure if she wanted to go on any rides not covered by the cheaper pass. As people shorter than 130cm pay less, that meant that the four year old could use the small children's rides as well.

All in all we spent almost two hours in the LunaPark and the children certainly seemed to have fun. The nine year old went on the Wild Mouse wooden roller-coaster at least six times, while the four year old enjoyed the timid kids' rides as well as the Ferris Wheel and the magnificent Carousel, while all had fun on Dodgems.

The Coney Island is perhaps the most nostalgic of Lunapark's attractions, apparently the only operating example of a 1930s fun-house left in the world. It's a huge wild-west style decorated barn of a play area containing two astro-glide slides as well as a rotating barrel, moving platforms and arcade games.

In addition to the rides mentioned above, the LunaPark has also some more heavy ones, notably the Rotor, the Flying Saucer,
Tumblebug (a Troika type ride), the Spider (a Breakdance type ride) and a Ranger (a pendulum ride) and a Tango Train (a Caterpillar type ride).

There are some catering concessions as well as separately-paid fairground type stalls (ball throwing, duck fishing and the like), all at the cost of 5 AUD.

All in all, the Sydney LunaPark is a pleasant enough small amusement park with a nostalgic feel to many of its rides and a decent diversion especially for those with children tired of endless sightseeing, although cheap it isn't. The "Go Wild" unlimited tickets at 30 AUD are the best value for money by far, assuming you will spend a good few hours here and make use of most rides, although even that is still rather steeply priced, while the individual rides are priced at the utterly extortionate 10 AUD. The lack of a family ticket is a bit of a disgrace too. Of course if you have no children in tow, you can just stroll through the Big Face and along the Midway of the LunaPark for free, looking and being happy that it's all behind you. Close