The Shake Rattle and Bowl Bowling Alley opened up in Stanthorpe late last year, and our family are all pretty impressed with it.

The most impressive thing is that the owner decided to build something of this magnitude in Stanthorpe, trusting his instincts rather than market research. And we hope it pays off, as it's great having another thing to do in the area.

Having young children, I love the thought that went into the kids playground area. There's a tiny baby play area, a bigger area for kids under 4 with those plastic balls, a slide, riding toys and a jumping castle, and a massive playground for 4-12 year olds that looks pretty impressive (but too scary for Miss 2 1/2 so we haven't checked it out closely yet). The only negative is I guess the price - $8 per kid, but that's for all day play (you can come and go). So, if we lived in town and I didn't have a small baby I would probably be tempted to go back a few times a day or stay all day and really get my money's worth. In the next year or two I'm sure we'll make full use of it. Season passes would be a bonus.

The coffee was pretty decent and the wood fired pizzas are really nice too. I think booths in the cafe area would be a good improvement to the basic tables.

The bowling alley itself is great - 6 lanes. Once I figured out what ball to use I did pretty good - two strikes ain't bad. Miss 2 1/2 got to bowl with bumpers on, and even though she walked away before her bowl made it to the pins, she did pretty good.

There's talk of someone developing a rollerskating rink next door. I hope that's true! Ice skating would be even better (or ice in winter at least).

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