We’d driven past the construction site of Caringbah’s newest playground on several occasions hoping the barriers would have been taken down.
Finally, it was announced late last week that the brand new playground at Dianella St Reserve was ready to welcome peachy keen small humans and their guardians.
My family decided to squeeze in a trip to the playground before the weather was forecast to turn to rain, rain and more rain. Plenty of others had the same idea so it was pretty busy but there were still several free parking spots in the off-street car park, as well as on-street parking right around the park’s perimeter.
Upon arriving at the playground, I had two thoughts.
- Damn, should’ve bought the scooters- there’s a great path right around.
- Hooray, it’s turfed! No dirty bark or sand-filled shoes to contend with.
The main play structure caters for both pre-school and primary school kids. It features a large and small slide, multiple climbing nets, balancing ropes, a rock-climbing wall and a small shop window for play at the bottom.
You’ll find five swings, two supported swings for babies, two unsupported swings for bigger kids and one oversized hammock swing that can fit about three small children at once.
There’s also a few jumping mounds and a spring-based platform for rocking around on. And in good news for those with runners, the whole thing is fenced in.
It comes equipped with a water station for filling your drink bottles, but if you’re looking for your nearest caffeine fix (or fresh wraps for lunch, or smoothies for the kids), the fabulous Mr Paisley’s cafe is just a three-minute walk away (though only open until 2pm) on Cawarra Road.
While there’s one picnic table and a couple of park benches, it’s unfortunate that there are no toilets or BBQ facilities, which would’ve made the expansive grass setting a perfect picnic party spot.
