Sydney Street/Merthyr Park (Treasure Park) New Farm

Sometimes a park is not about a park but about the experience, the surroundings and the ritual. Such is the case with the Sydney Street Park. This is a dinky little playground which is about half way around the Sydney Street river walk (which runs from Sydney Street ferry stop to Merthyr Bowls club). Map is here.

Cody wanted a pram walk - I have no idea where her sudden love of the pram walk has sprung from as she never wanted to be in the pram when she was a baby. Now Mika shares a pram she just loves it. I think the pram walk symbolizes a sense of escape for me (which she picks up on) and typically ends in a park. For some reason I was fanging for hot chips, so I devised a plan.

We used to live in New Farm many moons ago, and the walk around Merthyr Park (from Sydney Street to Merthyr Bowls) was something I tried to do every day. It's just a beautiful walk along the river, looking at the fancy schmancy houses and taking in the sights and smells of the Brisbane river. Just divine.

So we parked in Sydney Street itself and got out the pram, piled the kids in and headed down to Sydney Street Ferry stop for the beginning of the walk. About half way along there is a tiny little park, which of course Cody demanded we stop for.




The park itself is small, a few swings, a slide, a climbing frame. Its cute but pretty lo-fi. Cody had one small play on the park but then turned around and stared with a jaw-dropping delight. SAND.





Down she ran and began to squeal with delight and frolic in the sand. She ran into the mangroves and began playing a game where pebbles and leaves were hidden treasures. My belly rumbled. I feared I was never going to drag her away from this for chips. There was some discussion between my husband and I about the, uh, "safety" of letting her dig in the sand. He'd grown up with the knowledge that the Brisbane River was a disease ridden vile sludge cesspool. I was totally cool to let her dig, build up her immune system, but wash her hands before she went anywhere near that chip bowl. I don't know who is wrong or right here. Take that one as you please. But I'll say this, I haven't seen Cody so very happy for a long time as when she was running around her treasure island. We also got to have a chat to her about nature and how totally weird it was that trees were able to survive underwater and about tides and stuff. So educational to boot!

A play on the park ensued and then it was time for the drag. This blog is not called Leaving Is Never Easy for nuthing! Cody is horribly, terribly, stubbornly hard to move from a park. Finally it was on our way to Methyr Bowls for chips.







Merthyr Bowls has changed a lot since the heyday of our New Farm adventures. Its polished, a thriving business! The service was great, the views were amazing. At lunch time on a public holiday we got a great table overlooking the river and had a lovely lunch (chips and a garlic bread were about $15). Cody noticed the ferry's and we decided that the best way of getting back to our car was by ferry. A quick walk over to New Farm Park and we jumped a ferry for two stops back to Sydney Street.




So this blog entry is not so much about the playground - although it was fun and we had some giggles on the super long slide - but more about the whole package. A dinky park is more than a dinky park if you surround it with some adventures, chats and a bowl of chips.

I'm not going to rate it as the park would come up about a three but Cody would give it a ten because chips were involved. Not a fair rating!!