UNDERCOVER MUM SERIES
Follow the ups and downs of parenting as our mum takes up the challenge to find the best things to see and do in the Sutherland Shire with children.
Over to you Undercover Mum…
On a recent Sunday we decided to catch up with some old school friends of mine. Given we now all live in different parts of Sydney a central location for all of us was Parc Menai.
The playground is located at the rear of the Menai Marketplace so there is plenty of parking in the shopping centre car park.
We decided to arrive a little bit earlier than our friends so as to not blow my Undercover Mum status. We have been to the park before a few times and it has a good range of equipment for kids of different ages to play with.
Miss 3 decided that she wanted to spend most of the time balancing. Not only did she enjoy the ropes which are designed for balancing, she found the wood used for the perimeter of the park fascinating to walk up and down on about a hundred thousand times.
We made the mistake of her wearing sandals to the park. With the ground being made of bark I lost count of the amount of times she lost it because a piece of bark ended up in her shoes. So if you are planning to go here enclosed shoes might be a better option.
The park itself is fenced where the main car park is but it is not fully enclosed so you will need to keep an eye on the little ones.
For little kids there is a slide which they will love. But it has a rock climbing type ramp to get up to the slide so really little ones will need mum or dads help to get up.
There is also a couple of swings and some spring rockers that the little ones will enjoy.
Slightly older kids will love the rope climbing structure as well as another climbing structure. Or if they are a bit older and more independent they might like to head across to the Skate Park.
My one year old mostly just loved playing in the bark. I think half a tree ended up in our car on the way home!
When our friends arrived, we grabbed a coffee from McDonalds which is across the road. But you could head into Menai Marketplace and grab something to eat if you wanted to.
The park itself has BBQ facilities as well as lots of open space to sit and have a picnic with the family. There is also a circular bike path which lots of kids were riding around on their scooters.
There is toilet facilities here which are ok but my kiddies would prefer to go into McDonalds or the shopping centre as they are much cleaner.
The park also has a Liberty Swing for those in wheelchairs. This area is fully shaded and fenced.
Whilst the rest of the playground does not have a shade cloth there are lots of trees around that offer plenty of shade.
Both my girls were sad to leave at the end of the day, so it got the thumbs up from them.
It is a park that you can keep taking your kids back to as they grow since it caters for a range of ages.
