25 March 2008

Where is the best children's playground in Canberra?

| illyria
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I am involved with a community organisation and we are organising a family picnic day for disadvantaged kids in Canberra. We would normally go somewhere central like Weston Park or Black Mountain Peninsula where there is both playground equipment and BBQ’s. I recently took my kids to Weston Park where the ACT Govt has installed a ‘Spiders Web’ (a climbing frame for all you oldies) and a couple of new swings, however we were appalled by the old water play area that now has no running water but several stagnant pools of scum. Not really conducive to 2 year old play!

I have been to a park at Gungahlin where there are swings, flying foxes and a fantastic skate park to mention a few things. I have heard that there is an equivalent new park in Gordon. To save me a drive all over the ACT, does anybody have any suggestions about where the best park is?

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no, but i think he’s a nephew of savannah sue and a third cousin twice removed to plain jane…

Jungle Jim? Is he any relation to Desert Dave or Mountain Mike?

damn, and i thought the whole dead mother thing might work… (actually, she is in rooly and trooly hospital at the moment having just had a hip replacement, so not dead, but not ripe for clambering up a jungle jim, either!)

actually, the best playground for kids in canberra, in my humble estimation, is questacon.

beats playing with the peg i had as a young’un, though i did a lot with suc simple toys – witness the imagination i display in these humble (virtual) pages! ; )

Oh, the ironing.

I do not for a second believe that astrojax’s mum died giving birth to him, I do believe that he was being facetious when he made that comment and that he was trying to bring drama to the items I had posted in response to his post. If I am wrong, then I humbly apologise to atrojax and any other person on RA whose mother died in childbirth, which ‘in my book’ would truly have been a terribly tragic event.

Come on guys, get a sense of humour.

Being upset because your mother died in childbirth is “dramatic” in you book???

Sorry astrojax, I am old and I am not up with the whole icon thingys signalling intent. I should have posted a ‘ 😉 ‘ at the end of my post also. I will remember this for the future.

You really are being a bit dramatic though with the whole dead mother thing.

illyria, you are an incompetent reader. didn’t see the ‘ 😉 ‘ at the end of the post to signal it was a short and jocular post?

and my mother died in childbirth with me, so i find your remark upsetting.

Timberwolf6511:19 am 27 Mar 08

It’s a bloody shame about the playgrounds of Canberra, all the good ones have been taken down and replaced by boring plastic, colourful ones.
bring back the old wooden forts, where you could truly get lost in your imagination.

When i was a kid you never heard of people sueing, you only heard of that happening in America!!!!

Play Station’s or X-Box’s have those simulation car driving games don’t they??? Hey that is not such a bad idea. It might keep them off Majura Avenue at 2am in the morning or at least teach them how to take those corners without smashing into a tree!

Now I am confusing my own thread with another…….

I think the consensus is Adventure Playground at Kambah. Thanks everyone.

Outside is dangerous – all children should remain inside until they’re at least 25.

Buy a Play Station or X-Box.

Tidbinbilla is great, just way way out of town in the mountains. Slightly closer is the playground at Cotter Dam.

I also recommend the Adventure park in Kambah and at Yerrabi pond in Gunghalin.

Makes you wonder, if a needle exchange programme really meant ‘exchange’ if needles would be dropped so readily? (veering off topic)

Tanbark and a park bench are good for the junkies. It gives them somewhere to sit while they shoot up and then they can drop thier needle into the tan bark. The ACT Govt were only thinking about the kiddies when they removed the play equipment. If it was left there, they might land on one of the used needles and somebody might sue.

Even our tiny local park has had all of its swings, slide and roundabout removed because they were deemed to be unsafe. All we are left with is a park bench and some pine bark – safe but not a lot of fun.

I wonder if there is a link between this and the other threads on teenage drivers? I know I learnt my appreciation risk and its consequences on playground equipment that would make any OH&S officer shudder. Nature can be a painful teacher but it is better to learn those lessons early when the impact is not so high.

mutley...again11:17 am 26 Mar 08

He fell on his head at an adventure playground

Astrojax – you are an idiot. What has made you like this? Was it your own childhood experiences? Didn’t your parents ever take you to the park? Maybe it was your mother (It is always the mother!). Didn’t she like you? Were you not breastfed? Were you breastfed too long!!

imarty said :

My missus is off to Sydney this weekend leaving me and my young fella (nearly 2yo)to ourselves so Tidbinbilla sounds good. I’m supposing to get there it’s sign posted?

Its inside Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. First turn right after passing the buildings at the front gate….maybe 1 – 1.5 km down the road.

Not the set near my place – was vandalised over Christmas (lost the fort/slide/pole thing, one swing and half the seesaw). I’m starting to wonder if they’re going to replace it…

best playground for kids? northbourne avenue..? or mebbe tuggeranong parkway – at night… 😉

I always found Weston Park thrilling as a kid, and then they opened up that adventure playground at that school in Forrest… off State Circle and Deakin Avenue. That was incredible.

Sad that kids have to miss out on these htings now, because greed-head parents react to everything by suing. Didn’t happen when I was a kid. We fell off stuff, broke stuff, winded ourselves… Pretty sure there wasn’t any suing going on.

My missus is off to Sydney this weekend leaving me and my young fella (nearly 2yo)to ourselves so Tidbinbilla sounds good. I’m supposing to get there it’s sign posted?
Another good option, whilst without BBQs, is the War Memorial. D-Zone and all light and sound shows were greatly enjoyed by both of us and something I suspect will be a good fallback for rainy days.

The Viking Park at Gordon Ponds is good, but I really like, and more importantly my 4 year old daughter really likes the new playground at Tidbinbilla.

I always remember Glebe park and the wood playgrounds at Weston Parks as a favorite when I was a grom.

Adventure Playground in Kambah is quite good. It has a new section for under fives and flying foxes and other good stuff for older kids.

I think we should definitely give the ‘piss caves’ a miss! The wooden fort at Weston Park is gone, as is the maze at Black Mountain. More victims of litigation gone wild. Adventure Playground at Kambah is something that I have been told about outside of RA and it has come up here a few times. It will be worth taking a look at it. Thanks

And if that ain’t a pool room quote I don’t know what is.

the tunnel/concrete thing near Lake Burley Griffin was in good use too (its still there in the park across the road from Reid CIT).

Yeah, it was fun as a kid, but they don’t call them the ‘piss caves’ for nothing 🙁

Tuggeranong beach rocks, bbqs and great big playground …

Wow, great question! As a kids in the 70’s I’d say the wooden climbing thingy/fort in Weston Park was great, the tunnel/concrete thing near Lake Burley Griffin was in good use too (its still there in the park across the road from Reid CIT). Now I’d have to say the Kambah Adventure Playground. It has space enough for footy and cricket and plenty of play equipment for kids of all ages.

The new (i.e. post-bushfire) playground at the Cotter is pretty cool too!

I have wonderful memories of the park at Lake Ginninderra…
I’m not sure if it’s in very good condition, but my siblings and cousins and I could play there contently for hours in the ‘snake’ park back in the day!
There’s a range of climbing frames/tubes/bridges with model snakes slithering through it all…sounds scary but was lots of fun. Kids don’t need anything too complicated to stay entertained in a place like that.

Adventure Playground in Kambah.

I can tell you in the late 80s it used to be Fadden Pines.

It had a flying fox, a three level wooden CASTLE with a flying fox coming from level two and a variety of ways to climb to the top, a maze with a bell to ring at the centre, a skate bowl and a Half-Pipe.

Then someone fell off the flying fox and it got removed.
They took away the third level.
They took away the second level.
They took away the half-pipe.
They took away the maze.

Damn jerk Government!

Unfortunately I haven’t really kept up with awesome playgrounds so I can’t help you with the present.

It’s a bit down at heel these days but the adventure playground near Kambah Woolshed is always a great place for the kids. It gets my vote over the Gordon Space Park.

Joe Canberran5:07 pm 25 Mar 08

if you get a few answers this seems like a great topic to try out the new riot poll thingy.

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