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The Australian Reptile Park, located on the NSW Central Coast, has been named the 2018 NSW Business of the Year by the state’s peak business organisation, the NSW Business Chamber.

The award was presented in front of 920 guests, including NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, at a gala dinner at the Big Top, Luna Park in Sydney.

The awards ceremony marked a great success for the Australian Reptile Park as a growing corporate organisation. The business was recognised for the following efforts throughout the 2017-2018 financial year:
•     Wildlife tourism excellence through establishing a family fun day out atmosphere in a time where it is harder and harder to pull kids away from screens. The Australian Reptile Park also saw record breaking visitation in the 2017-2018 financial year
•    Saving over 300 lives a year through its funnel web spider and venomous terrestrial snake antivenom programs
•    Bringing the plight of Australia’s endangered wildlife to the forefront through educating visitors about conservation and being the founding business of Australia’s largest privately owned conservation facility Aussie Ark
•    Continually investing back into infrastructure to improve visitor experience and enhance work spaces 

Winning NSW Business of the Year and Excellence in Business means a lot more to the Australian Reptile Park than just a label or a trophy. It represents a triumph in hard work, happy staff and even happier visitors.

Tim Faulkner, Director of The Australian Reptile Park says, “It’s wonderful to share this with our staff and visitors, being a family owned business we have faced our fair share of troubles – which makes winning these awards feel even better. It really is an outstanding achievement for a business that milks venomous snakes, wrestles alligators and breeds Tasmanian devils! Each and every staff member puts their heart and soul into our organisation, and it shows!”

Faulkner continues “We are proud to connect people with nature and help get families back outdoors! We pride ourselves on being the best family fun day out and can’t wait to continue growing with our upcoming Komodo Dragon exhibit opening by the end of 2018.”

The Australian Reptile Park has been operating since 1958 and is the leading man-made tourism attraction on the Central Coast welcoming over 255,000,000 visitors annually. It is the biggest and longest existing wildlife attraction on the Central Coast and currently has a staff of 65 as well as a volunteer program that trains future zookeepers. John and Robyn Weigel, now own and manage the Australian Reptile Park and have done so since the mid 1980’s.

In 1996, John and Robyn Weigel embarked on something no other Australian zoo of its size had done before, it relocated from North Gosford to Somersby on the Central Coast. Included was the added task of not only moving the 2,000 animals that called the Australian Reptile Park home, but also moving a 26 metre concrete dinosaur named Ploddy - the Park mascot. Ploddy can now be seen when driving northbound on the M1 welcoming visitors to the Central Coast region.
 
For more information visit www.reptilepark.com.au
 

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