Enrolments open for Elf Academy

CENTRAL Deborah Gold Mine will become a hotbed of student Santa’s little helpers over five days from Thursday, Dcember 19 with about 10,000 local children expected to graduate with a Certificate IV in Elf Training during that time.

The annual Elf Academy will see the entire surface of the mine bursting with about 20 different activities including learning how to care for reindeer and different farm animals at Farmer Darryl’s Mobile Animal Farm.

There’ll also be an agility course, arts and crafts section, laser maze, interactive displays and a story corner, while parents can take a load off at the Cheeky Elf Cafe.

Tynille Thurlow, the new general manager of tourism and marketing at Bendigo Heritage Attractions, said the concept of the Academy was it was a “training facility” for children to join Santa’s team.

“They come and learn all of the skills required through a series of craft activities, games and challenges,” she said.

“The kids and their families move through [the stations], then at the end they get to meet Santa and receive their qualification.”

Ms Thurlow said for those who had been before, there was a whole suite of new activities this year.

“We’ve got a few crowd favourites which everyone loves coming back to, but we’ve also grown and expanded this year to make sure there’s new things for the kids to see.

“It’s a fantastic family day out and we especially love it when the kids dress up and get into the spirit of it.

“It’s also a nice [opportunity] to spend time with your family, create memories and prepare for the big day, which is not far off at all.”

The Elf Academy will be in place at Central Deborah Gold Mine in Violet Street from Thursday, December 19 to December 23.

Four daily two-hour sessions start at 9am, 11.30am, 2pm and 4.30pm.

Further information and a link to “enrolments” is available on the mine’s website.

Bendigo Heritage Attractions is also offering professional Santa photo shoots at the Tramways Museum from 10am to 2pm daily until December 23.