Fire investigators are waiting to sift through the rubble of the famous Rock Roadhouse on the NSW Central Coast after the landmark went up in smoke.
The kitschy but eye-catching pit-stop on the Pacific Highway near Tea Gardens was opened in 1990 by the explorer Leyland Brothers as an amusement park, but the structure - a 1/40th scale model of Uluru - met a fiery end on Tuesday night.
Eighteen fire crews raced to the property at 7pm, managing to keep the blaze from reaching fuel tanks at a nearby service station, but within three hours the landmark had been reduced to a shell.
A large crime scene has been established at the site with investigators expected to spend Wednesday working to determine the cause of the blaze, police said.
The Rock Roadhouse sits next to The Great Aussie Bush Camp, which was unaffected by the blaze and is open for business as usual on Wednesday.
"There are NO students onsite at our Tea Gardens centre at this time and the property is untouched by the fire! It was a mighty big fire to tell a camp story around all the same!" the Camp posted on its official Facebook page on Wednesday.
The attraction was first opened by explorers and documentary makers Mal and Mike Leyland in 1990 and included amusement rides, a playground and roadhouse.
But Leyland Brothers World couldn't stop the siblings from going broke and it didn't make reserve when it went under the auction hammer just two years later.
It sent them broke in a few short years and reportedly destroyed their relationship before it was sold for a song in 1992.
