Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia — Attraction in Newcastle-Maitland

I got married here on the 18/07/22. In the lead up to the wedding, my husband and I had visited the wetlands several times in order to iron out the details. For every one of these visits, staff went above and beyond to help us, even giving us a tour of the wetlands using the buggies - free of charge.

The afternoon prior to the wedding, we organised to have our celebrant meet with me at the reception area prior to the wedding, so that we could alert guests to my arrival, without being seen.

When I arrived at the wetlands, a staff member came up to the van I had arrived in and told me that she had organised for me to meet with the celebrant outside the chapel.

I knew that our guests were still in the process of setting up the area, and that if I were to wait out the front of the chapel as instructed, I would be seen.

I explained that we had arranged for the celebrant to meet with me at the reception area, the staff member restated that she had organised this with the celebrant.

Luckily, the celebrant met me at the reception.

My husband and I planned on having an extremely intimate and private ceremony, with only our immediate family present.

We also had arranged live music.

When I arrived at the chapel, the same staff member that met me at the van stated that they would stand to the side of the aisle and give me a wave when it was time to start walking.

Our celebrant alerted the staff member as the live music began. As I was about to walk down the aisle, the staff member began to walk down the aisle in front of me. I was very confused, and assumed that she was just making sure that everything was okay and would turn around, leaving the aisle before I started to walk. This was not the case. The staff member proceeded to walk the full length of the aisle, after the celebrant had announced my arrival and the music began to play. Because I did not want to enter behind the staff member, and risk having them obstruct the photos, I had to wait for the staff member to make it to their seat, before I could begin walking. This meant that the timing of the live music had been disrupted.

I was not aware that this was going to occur. I was also not aware that this staff member would be attending our wedding or present in the photos of our ceremony. I was extremely disappointed and confused as to why this had occurred, as we had never met this staff member before and had put so much effort into ensuring that only immediate family would be present.

After the ceremony, we returned to the arbour after being away for 10 minutes, to find the same staff member with a pair of scissors about to remove the $1500 floral arrangement before we could get photos. We had not requested this.

The venue was beautiful and fortunately made up for this ...

Note: 5-star rating is for Wetlands area ONLY. We were warmly welcomed by the two friendly ladies at reception, who gave us maps and advice. It's a beautiful place to spend some time and get your nature on and me, my wife and our 6 year old son really enjoyed it. We decided to stay for lunch and, unfortunately, this proved to be a mistake. The grumpy old guy in the restaurant couldn't have made us feel less welcome if he'd tried. First, we sat down at an empty table; he came and put a Reserved card on it and said we had to move because it's reserved. So we moved to another table. (That 'reserved' table remained unused for the duration of our stay.) When he brought us our drinks, my wife politely asked him if he could please remove the previous diners' dirty plates and cups. His reply in a surly tone: "You shouldn't even be sitting here, I haven't sanitised the table yet." I held my tongue because I didn't want to cause a scene. Luckily we were also served by a very friendly young man with a plaited pony tail who clearly understood customer service. Later, my wife went to order another smoothie. Grumpy was at the counter and completely ignored her as she stood right in front of him. I understand these eateries attached to attractions like this are leased and run by an external company. I would suggest to Wetlands management that they give serious consideration to their current arrangement. We'll return to the Wetlands but never again will we visit...

Friendly greeting as you walk in. $5 for pensioner and free maps. Coffee shop and light snacks, cakes available. First off, walk up to a closed shed upon entering, a section of frogs, lizards, snakes in fish tanks with descriptions of enclosed reptile. A short walk to a table setting to enjoy the coffee I had bought with me. The toilet here was extremely clean, large and had a nappy change as well, however apart from the info centre was the only toliet I found on my walk.

A nice walk around the fenceline perimeter...lacking signage in some parts and toilets would have been helpful near the 'boat shed'. Viewing platforms here and there over a muddy creek and it appears you can hire canoes here. Grounds well maintained. At a certain point you can pass through a gate and enter rainforest sections and also nice shady boardwalk. Lots of birdlife in the ponds. Paths here and there off the main track, so didn't investigate them all. Coffee shop busy on my way out and looks like groups come in for a tour,etc. Gravel car park almost full. Short drive out from Newcastle and I would imagine a nice picnic day out for...