Anakie, VIC 3213

This is a great picnic town, good place to go for a day out with the kids. My highlight is the fairy park, as well as the Bert Boardman rec reserve! Steve Mac | House & Land Expert | House Land Co

Anakie is a sparsely populated area which has a small residential area of roughly 20 homes centred around the school, community house and general store. The remainder of the population live on farmland, small acreages or in the bush throughout the Brisbane Ranges.

The town centre is located about 20 minutes drive from Lara, or 25 minutes to Geelong. It's also less than 1 hour to Melbourne centre and 45 minutes drive to the Surf Coast beaches. We have high school kids that catch the bus from the General Store to and from school each day and they love to have friends over on weekends to ride horses or just run around the paddocks.

It's a great place to live if you like nature and are not really into built up city living. The best part is that you are not totally isolated, there is still a General Store to keep you going when you run out of supplies. Every day we see Kangaroos from our family room window, and several times a year we have Koalas spend a few days in our trees. There's a big family of Wedge Tail Eagles that we regularly see too.

The morning drive to work takes on a new dimension when you head through the hills and see the fog rolling off the Brisbane Ranges. It's worth taking your camera with you on your daily drive.

If you have a young family, they'll love Fairy Park in Anakie. The park is a tribute to fairytales and is Australia's oldest theme park. It has animated figures which come to life and tell you the fairytale they are a part of. Anakie is a short drive from Geelong. While you're there the Brisbane Ranges National Park is also worth a look. Its renowned for its range of flora with more than 100 species. Fairy Park has long been a favourite with families.