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…
Heading out to a park has now become a standard part of our weekends. So much so that Miss 3 no longer asks if we are going out she asks when.
I dread the day it is raining and we cannot head out. We have been really lucky lately to be able to get out and enjoy the winter sunshine.
All the parks we have been to so far, were ones we had visited before. We decided this time to give a new one a go – Old School Park in Gymea. I had heard great things about it, but never actually ventured there before.
Whilst Miss 3 was a Wiggle last week, this time around she decided she was supergirl – da da da dah!! It wasn’t enough just to be supergirl the da da dah needed to be added in with actions of an arm raised in the air appearing to be flying.
With her cape flapping in the wind we jumped in the car and headed towards Gymea Bay.
The park itself is located on the left hand side just a little bit after driving past Gymea Public School. There is about 15 parking spaces out the front, or you could park on the street if you needed to.
You don’t really see much of the park as you drive towards it, so you are best just to look for the parking spaces.
The park is gated where the road is, and whilst it backs onto a bit of bushland it is relatively enclosed.
Similar to some other parks we have been to, it has a path for small bikes and scooters, and a nice open grass area, where some kids were kicking around a ball.
There is one sheltered gazebo here, which was taken by a large group celebrating a birthday party. I would say you need to get there really early in the morning to grab that.
But there are a couple of other uncovered picnic tables, as well as heaps of space to bring along a picnic rug.
This particular park does not have BBQ facilities like some of the others we have visited, so you would need to bear that in mind if planning a visit.
After checking out the grassed area for a bit, and me kicking myself that I had forgotten to bring a ball yet again, we headed to one of the play areas.
There is actually two playground areas as well as a swing set. One of the areas has shade cloth over it but the other is open.
The first area we went to had some spring rockers as well as a slide and some bucket like contraptions where the kids could fill them up with bark and then tip it out.
The other playground has two slides, as well as a fireman’s pole and a climbing net and another spring rocker.
The girls enjoyed playing in both areas and there was children up to about 8 years old who also enjoyed the park.
It doesn’t have anything like a flying fox or rope climbing frame for older kids. So if you have children of mixed ages than consider bringing a ball for the older kids to kick around to keep them entertained.
Miss 3 had a go of the swings, which we had to wait a little bit for but she is used to that. Hubby has learned the drill by now so said to me ‘don’t you have to go check out the toilet’.
Which is what me and Miss 3 did next. There is only one toilet here but as parks go it is relatively clean and it had an actual toilet seat on it, so it passed the toddler test. It is pretty big space as well so you could pile in with a couple of kids and a pram if needed.
I don’t recall there being a baby change table in there. But I was highly distracted by Miss 3 screaming at the top of her lungs “mum, mum listen to my echo” over and over again.
I have no idea where she learned about echoes. Maybe child care. Most likely Peppa Pig.
After heading back to the playground, despite all of the fun playground equipment, Miss 3 decided that the most exciting thing in the park was a tree. Which she decided to climb. By climb I mean stand about 15 centimeters off the ground and shout over to us that she was climbing the tree.
After spending about an hour here, it was lunch time so we decided to head home, despite Miss 3’s protests.
Hubby said as we left that he would even brave going there on his own with the girls. So for me that gives this park a big tick of approval.
Old School Park is located at 250 Gymea Bay Road Gymea. As far as I could see there were no hours on display so I don’t think it gets locked overnight like some other places.
