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Have you ever seen a flying pig?!

The Lost Forest is the most unusual gift shop in Australia. Nowhere else will you find our unique range of soft toys, books, puppets, cards, videos, tapes and much, much more.

The reasons why the Lost Forests exist are to be found in the pages of the exciting story book called The Lost Forests. The Lost Forests story tells how Timothy Barber was given a bag of magical seeds by one of the world's last flying pigs!

Timothy planted the seeds wherever he heard the strange sounds of the Otherworlds drifting up from underneath the ground. Mysterious forests of talking, moving trees sprung up overnight where the seeds were planted, and along with them Trapdoors down to the Otherworlds, the place where creatures of magic and mythology live safe from our world. Timothy visited the Otherworlds by entering through these trapdoors, but in 1932 he disappeared and all the forests and trapdoors vanished with him!

In 1987, Timothy's grandson, Tony the Toymaker, found a bag of the magic seeds in an old chest in the attic and began "rediscovering" the Lost Forests in the same way that his grandfather had. Every night, Tony opens the trapdoors and visits the Otherworlds to search for his grandfather. During the day, he makes toys that look just like the real creatures he meets on his journeys, so that he can earn the money needed to pay the rent on the land where The Lost Forests now exist!

The Lost Forests shop is a very special place for the young and the young at heart. A visit to The Lost Forests is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Listen to the beguiling sounds of the Forest, and smell the magic around you! Have you ever been spoken to by a Talking Tree? You will in The Lost Forests! We have the most innovative collection of gifts for "human beings" of all ages. But to enter the Forest you must observe our four rules:

No food
No drink
No smoking
and most of all, No dogs! (as it makes the trees very nervous! Can you imagine why?)

This is Tony Barber (also known as Tony the Toymaker), the man behind the Lost Forests concept. He developed the idea, designed the shop, wrote the music and all the story books, and he designs and makes the creatures of The Lost Forests. In former times he was a member of the band known as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, which (for those of you who are old enough to remember!) was quite famous in the 1960s. He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, and spends his time designing characters for corporate clients and doing consulting, media and television work, and he also visits schools, performing his Storytelling Shows. What would we do without him?

This is Helen (on the left) and Pat (on the right), the co-owners of The Lost Forest. Tony is ageing prematurely because of these two! Don't ever misbehave in the shop or the one on the left will get you (and you don't want that, believe me!) You can e-mail Helen or Pat.

The Lost Forests concept was launched in 1988 and at one time operated a chain of stores worldwide, both in Australia and overseas. The Australian Lost Forest is now the only remaining store. If you remember a Lost Forest that used to be near you, then unfortunately you will not be able to relive the experience of actually visiting the shop without travelling to Adelaide, but you can order any of the wonderful things that used to be available from that shop from our website! We deliver anywhere, and as you can probably imagine we receive daily requests from all over the world.