We’ve hand-picked the following parks that we think are pretty special. We think they’re worthy of a day trip from the Hills with the kids but be warned, because they’re pretty epic they do get busy on weekends and in school holidays.
Gipps Street Recreational Precinct. Claremont Meadows
Meadowbank Regional Playcground, Constitution Road West, Meadowbank
This playground is completely mind blowing! In terms of playgrounds it’s without a doubt one of the best we’ve ever seen and our kids were talking about their next visit walking back to the car! Meadowbank is about half an hour from Castle Hill and we found parking easy when we arrived, just off Constitution Road West on Federal Road.
The best way to describe the playground is to break it into two sections. There’s an ‘outer’ section which has been there a while, with an epic skatepark as well as other slightly different equipment for older kids, like a rock climbing structure, climbing net and table tennis table. There’s also a play structure and swings for smaller kids too in this outer section. Scattered around are benches to sit as well as some grassy areas where you could put down a picnic rug. Flat paths weave around the area and they’re great for scooting. There’s a couple of tables as well as BBQs and water fountains/bubblers.
Then there’s the new playground placed in the ‘inner’ section of the space – it’s away from the road, is fenced and has an amenities block right beside it. This incredible $3 million dollar inclusive sensory space opened in Febrary 2022. There is SO much to do! Rattling off just a few things … a sandpit with 2 hand diggers, flying fox, water play in warm months, drums & xylophone, balance beams & poles, swings, smaller play structures for toddlers, rock climbing footholds, slides and more.
Wadanggari Park, St Leonards
Livvi’s Place, Yamble Reserve, Quarry Road, Ryde
This playground is fab! The concept of the numerous Livvi’s Places in Sydney and around Australia is a really interesting one. In a nutshell, these inclusive play spaces provide a unique environment for children of all ages and all abilities to play side by side. You can read more at touchedbyolivia.com.au.
The playground at Yamble Reserve is lovely, with different pockets to discover and lots of brightly coloured elements to explore and ponder. There are stepping bells and bongos, a large sand area with a cool water pump, excellent long flying fox and a second one with a chair and harness, big spinning structures, little hills and tunnels and more.
Huge shade sails cover a large portion of the playground but not the flying fox. Some trees offer a bit of extra shade too but in the middle of the day it probably gets quite warm. It’s fully fenced with security gates and there’s plenty of seating. But this is the type of playground where, with toddlers particularly, you kind of have to wander around with them – but that’s really no hassle as it’s so much darn fun! Older kids would probably be ok to roam around a bit on their own with less supervision.
There are a couple of large shelters with tables and benches and a bbq, as well as a lovely big grassed area next to the playground. Parking was no problem – there’s a car park right next to the park with over 30 spots and another smaller one off Clermont Avenue which provides easy access for visitors with mobility restrictions. And there’s a large toilet block right next to the park.
Ian Potter Children’s WILD PLAY Garden & Centennial Park
OK, so we know this one is definitely not in the Hills District. In fact, it’s a bit of a trek to Sydney’s eastern suburbs. But it IS pretty special and would make for a lovely family day trip on a weekend or a day in school holidays when you have lots of time.
The Ian Potter Children’s WILD PLAY Garden is located in Centennial Park Sydney. This park is a stunning park already but with this new space, it’s even more amazing! This $4 million nature play space isn’t a standard ‘playground’.There’s dry creek beds, a water play area, a bamboo forest, a giant slide, banksia tunnels, rope bridge, turtle mounds and a treehouse. Our kids loved it because it’s really different and we haven’t seen anything like it before. It could be worth taking a change of clothes given the water play and the fact that the kids will be running, climbing and crawling! You can read more about it here.
Centennial Park in general is stunning and there’s lots of other things to do in the larger park too! Take your bikes and scooters for a ride, visit the ponds with ducks, play at the other playground or book in for horseriding. Do some googling before you head to the park though as it’s massive, with various entrances so a bit of planning and knowing where you’re going would help.
Strathfield Park, Chalmers & Homebush Rds, Strathfield
Photos care of our friends at Ryde District Mums.
This park is about 35 minutes from Castle Towers, so not TOO far. It underwent a major reno a couple of years ago and as a result it’s now huuuuge and has multiple play areas. It does get busy though, particuarly on weekends. It’s good to see some equipment that caters for older kids too like the epic flying foxes and the huge slides. It ticks lots of the major boxes like toilets, bbqs, shade (from a sail and the trees), awesome equipment and areas to do other things like kick a ball, run and ride/scoot. There’s an actual track with markings and road signs which is always a crowd-pleaser. If your toddler is into trains there’s also a train structure in the playground on the Chalmers Road side of the park.
Ollie Webb Reserve, 37A Glebe St, Parramatta
This fantastic park only opened in February 2019, so it’s quite new and shiny! It’s an all-abilities playground and was built in consultation with the Touched By Olivia Foundation. It’s a $1.8million park so as you’d expect it has STACKS of great equipment for different ages – slides, sand, water pumps, swings, trampolines, tunnels, rope nets and on and on. There are good amenities and shade sails over parts of the playground, with more to come. And…. it also has water play!
Fairfield Adventure Park, Vine Street, Fairfield
Photos: Fairfield City Council.
We sometimes find that tweens and teens are forgotten as far as parks go but Fairfield Adventure Park is specifically for them! There are major slides and a sky bridge, as well as challenging rope climbs, a 33m long double flying fox and a boot-camp style obstacle course. It’s only a few years old, covers a large area and offers all required amenities such as shelters, bbqs and loos. If you visit with little ones, keep an eye on them as it’s a large area and does get busy. It’s also opposite the leisure centre which has water play – another plus! It’s about 35 – 40 minutes from Castle Towers.
St Ives Showground playground, 450 Mona Vale Rd St Ives
The new playground at St Ives Showground looks fabulous! The new playground has distinct areas for very young children through to those in their teens. There are windmills and timber animal sculptures to reflect the showground’s agricultural history and nature play areas have timber, rocks and other natural materials intermingled with plants. The idea behind these spaces is that children can explore beyond play equipment and use their imaginations in play with other children. And yes, there are toilets!
Mindarie Park, cnr Kullah Parade & Mindarie St, Lane Cove North
The equipment is excellent, particularly for under 5s and it’s fully fenced, has toilets, is shaded by trees and shade sails, has soft rubber flooring and there’s even a little BBQ outside! We love the colours they’ve used on the equipment as it blends beautifully with the environment. We always need coffee so you can head up to Mowbray Eatery right near by which has a wonderful deck space plus a little play area for kids.
Blaxland Riverside Park, Jamieson St, Sydney Olympic Park
We fear our view of this park may be slightly skewed to the negative due to the excruciatingly hot day we visited that made this poor mum quite a mess. Ok, a lot skewed unfortunately but we’re going to push through it and try not to mention it too often.
We went really early so parking was nice and easy but it gets super busy as the day goes on. You can tell straight away that this playground is a little different. It’s probably better suited to slightly older kids, or if you’re there with toddlers you’ll need to watch them as you can lose sight of them behind the hills.
In addition to hills there are tunnels and scrambling walls, a large climbing net, double flying fox and an excellent swing section. There are cool slides too but beware, if it’s hot they’re not cool at all. There’s also an awesome 12 metre high climbable treehouse-style structure that overlooks the entire playground and that older kids will enjoy.
We wandered down to the riverside which was lovely as you can look at the various boats passing by. If you’re up for a coffee or refreshment, there’s the Armoury Wharf Cafe and there’s a little kiosk right next to the water play area, which is where the toilets are located as well. The one negative of the park, and unfortunately in summer it’s a big one, is that there’s just not enough shade. There are only a handful of umbrellas which obviously get snapped up quickly and there are minimal trees. The area is in desperate need of some shade sails. If you’re hard core in the heat then you’ll probably be able to hack it. But for this reason alone, next time we visit we’ll do so when it’s cooler, even if this means sacrificing the water play.
There’s heaps of other stuff to do in the area so you could easily make a day of it with bike and segway riding, walking, the BirdLife Discovery Centre, picnicking and they even have a Gallery which is open on weekends. It’s worth visiting sydneyolympicpark.com.au to help plan your day.
Not so far afield – If you’re not up for some quality car time with the small people, Fagan Park is one of our all time favourites that’s a little closer to the Hills. You can read more about it here. There’s also West Epping Park which was redeveloped reasonably recently and is awesome – again, not too far to go either.
What other parks do you feel are worthy of the drive a little further afield?
