Fairy Dust in Fitzroy Gardens

A gloriously sunny day with a nice gentle breeze, today seemed like the perfect day to go hunting for fairy dust with the little people. I packed both little ones in the car and squeezed in one of their friends and took advantage of the quiet summer streets and drove into the city. Our destination? The leafy, lush and large Fitzroy Gardens on the edge of Melbourne's CBD.

Each summer, the Fitzroy Gardens play host to a number of free events organised by the City of Melbourne. The events range from Sunset Concerts to Stargazing to Fairy Fanfare...and it's the fairies that took us there today. For the first two weeks in January, three comical fairies perform silly antics twice daily (At 10am and 12pm) near the Fairy Tree, alongside the Pavilion restaurant and it's FREE!! The children are encouraged to dress in costume and many do (predominantly as fairies).

Fairy in Pink

After we circled Fitzroy Gardens several times in search of a car park, we finally found one and slowly made our way across it's expansive grounds on foot towards the Fairy Tree. It was pretty obvious to tell which direction to head--there were dozens upon dozens of little people donning fairy wings, sparkly wands, and glistening dresses as well as a few muscly superheros mixed in. The trail of miniature fairies ended in a large grassy opening shaded by massive trees (if I was more of an arborist I'd tell you the variety...alas I spend my time here instead of studying tree varieties). Picnic blankets were the order of the day with each family sharing their own little patch of plaid. We found a spot mid-way back and sat down in the soft grass.

The Fairy Faithful

It wasn't long before the first fairy appeared. He introduced himself as Fairy Snooze and yawned continuously. He asked us if we'd seen his friends Fairy Nuff and Fairy Smart. We hadn't spotted his friends yet so we told him so. He also asked us if we'd seen any cheeky garden gnomes. Apparently these gnomes run around in the gardens taking things from the fairies and hiding them. They were naughty little creatures he told us. We hadn't spotted any of those either.

Since Fairy Snooze couldn't find his friends, he decided he'd start without them. He began by teaching us a special fairy song that would be required of us later. He explained that he and his fairy friends were going to use some magic fairy dust to grant some wishes for us later, but we'd need to be able to sing the song first. As you might imagine, this song had accompanying physical actions. The children were all very keen to follow along and practice the song with Fairy Snooze.

Once the children had the song down pat, Fairy Snooze actually, yes you guessed it, fell asleep. Hence the name. This was a perfect time for Fairy Nuff and Fairy Smart to come and wake him up. The children delighted in meeting the new fairies.

Fairy Nuff and Fairy Smart debate how to wake up Fairy Snooze

Once Fairy Snooze was awake again, the fairies began their search for the magical fairy dust which was apparently stolen by those naughty garden gnomes--of course!

The fairies taking a break from the search for the fairy dust

The rest of the show was packed full of jokes, songs and plenty of acrobatics. They did plenty of interesting things with a ladder they referred to as a "platter". Apparently fairies don't do much home improvement. Finally they successfully found the fairy dust and each child was allowed to go on a short fairy walk with Fairy Smart as the leader. At the end of the walk, Fairy Nuff and Fairy Snooze sprinkled each little person with a tiny bit of fairy dust so their wishes would come true.

The show runs for about an hour and most people seem to bring a picnic lunch or snacks along with them. Luckily for the unorganised amongst us, the Pavilion Cafe is set up to provide a proper cafe lunch, a take away coffee or even a simple sausage straight off their outdoor barbie. If you have little people, and are spending the summer in Melbourne, only the rain should keep you away from this little bit of fun in the heart of the city.

The Pavilion Cafe--a saviour with cold drinks and sausages!