Paten Park, The Gap (AKA Nursery Park)

After reading my post about Wittonga Park on Hilder Road in The Gap, Adam reminded me about the Nursery Park over the Payne Road side of The Gap. I'd completely forgotten about this park so it was off for a quick revisit. Map is here.

The park is called Nursery Park as it sits in front of the nursery (duh) but also because the nursery theme has transgressed to the park itself in the form of the "shopfronts" which have been created. There is flowers to spin, a walk in greenhouse, a delivery truck, a water tank and a florist shop. All pretty cool. The bits Cody loves are the pretend sink in the greenhouse (my girl loves pretending to wash her hands for some reason) and the bit Mika loves is the spinning flowers. Side note: I was thinking the other day about how I have an extended duty of review now that Mika is old enough to be interactive. So you'll get the parks suitability for a four-ish year old and an under one.









Also worthy of mention is the spiderweb which sits off to the side. I've no idea what these climbing frames are really called but we call them spider webs and this one is a great net like structure which you can lie on and roll around in. The climbing frame is also impressive - it has a bell at the top which I find really spurs the kids on to get to the top.




Behind the park sits a dog off-leash area and between the two there are a couple of picnic tables (none covered or with a BBQ).


I remember when came here when we first moved to The Gap and met an extraordinary lady and her son. It really made us feel that this was a great move for us. Unfortunately The Gap wasn't a great move for me, but we did meet some awesome families along the way.

The nursery theme makes this a lovely little park. Cody and I agree its around a 6.

RATED:

Age Groups: The playground has tried to cater to all ages with the toddler friendly aspects but also adding some elements which require the skill set of a slightly older kid.

Kid Friendliness: The kids have always been cool here.

Parent Friendliness: Ditto - the parents have always been cool here.

Shadiness: there is a sail cover in place playground is shaded by a canopy of trees

Tricked Out: the nursery theme is cute (not sure it qualifies as tricked out though)

Picnic/BBQ: not a picnic or BBQ park

Shabbiness: gets a bit of rubbish but overall pretty clean

Toilets: no toilets

Hovering Required: It's small enough that you don't need to hover

Bring Yr Bike: I was going to say no, but when we were there a mum was teaching her son to ride without training wheels across the slope of the grass.

Crowded: not at all

Wow: a cute theme - will really impress the younger set

Wittonga Park, Hilder Road, The Gap

If you are following our trails you'd know we now live in the Alderley/Enoggera/Newmarket area however we did a brief stint in The Gap for a while. Wittonga Park was our local park at The Gap and signals an interesting time of learning in Cody's life (from 2 to 3) and thus worthy of a revisit from time to time. Map is here.



A simple park with a main play structure surrounded by a few swings and climbing frames, this park is typical of local parks at The Gap - brightly coloured plastic features, installed in the last ten or so years, overshadowed by amazing surrounding park or bushlands. During our stint in The Gap we scoured the place and this came up as the best of the bunch (yes, better than the dual park next to The Gap Village which we never actually warmed to).



This is where Cody learned to climb across the floating poles (see image below as I know they have a proper name and I just don't know it) and the climbing frame and grew a love of scaling large walls and other structures. This is the park which really fostered and developed the features she has come to love in playgrounds. Do your kids have a place like this?





Clientele wise, we've always met lovely people at this park - which I found strange because we were very much the odd ones out at The Gap so it was good fortune to find kindred among the playground goers. The kids were lovely, typically older kids from the Hilder Road School just across the road.

To the side of the park is a little bridge which goes across Fish Creek and leads to the massive oval which has a bike path around its edge. The bike path is often filled with walkers, kids learning biking and dog after dog after dog. At the very back of the oval is the most wondrous thing - a bmx track. Can you believe it!?! Composed of dirt tracks and dirt mounds of varying degrees, I'm so impressed that amidst the skate parks (which have unfortunately gone the way of the razor scooter) there is a place for kids to do BMX tricks.





All in all, not a bad little park for a local. it deserves at least a 6 rating for the playground, but higher if you are bringing the BMX.

RATED:

Age Groups: The playground has tried to cater to all ages with the toddler friendly aspects but also adding some elements which require the skill set of a slightly older kid.

Kid Friendliness: The kids have always been cool here.

Parent Friendliness: Ditto - the parents have always been cool here.

Shadiness: there is a sail cover in place playground is shaded by a canopy of trees

Tricked Out: not at all.

Picnic/BBQ: not a picnic or BBQ park - there is one table only

Shabbiness: gets a bit of graffiti every now and then but overall pretty clean

Toilets: there is a toilet block in the vacinity

Hovering Required: It's small enough that you don't need to hover - this said, if they start running towards Hilder Road there are lots of cars and some big drains - but you'd have to seriously have taken your eyes off them for a full minute for them to get that far

Bring Yr Bike: The playground itself is not good but its surrounded by a bike path

Crowded: not super crowded but definitely popular

Wow: none at all (unless you head over the bridge and walk to the BMX track!)

Jubilee Park (AKA Tree Park)

Jubilee Park (on Fletcher Parade - off Coopers Camp Road in Ashgrove/Bardon) has been a favourite of ours for a while now. We've played there when we lived over that side of town, we have friends who lived nearby and had picnics there but - best of all - CK's cousin Henry lives nearby and is always on hand for playing. It's situated on the Ashgrove/Bardon border - the map can be found here.

The sun was setting so I only got a few dodgy photographs - plus it was super crowded and I'm always trying to take care not to include other folk's children in pictures I post on the internet. So a couple of teaser images to give you an idea, however I think the map link best gives scope with how huge the whole area is, including the ovals. I mention the oval as this is the one park where the oval seems to get used frequently. You know how most parks have an oval off to the side, however it is completely barren of activity except if there happens to be Saturday morning cricket? Well Jubilee Park seems to break free from this oval as ghost town model. CK and her cousin always make a mad dash and run straight into the centre - I've no idea why this park is more conducive to this but the chasing game seems contagious and at any one time there are often toddlers and young children breaking free into a massive run across the field.

There are always groups picnicing here - and you do need to picnic as there are no BBQs here (but there are across the road in another park). I've enjoyed a picnic at this park (as part of a group where I was the only person who had a child so everyone else was there for the picnic rather than the playground) and its a really lovely place to spend the afternoon under the canopy of trees which covers the playground entirely. It can get dark and cold so bring a cardigan if you are visiting late in the afternoon or on a shady day).

This is a lovely climbing park. There are three separate climbing frames - your standard tent like frame (this one has a possum on the top - most have a giant spider for some reason), a climbing wall (which CK at a very tall four years old seems a bit small for) and a more advanced frame which has a variety of climbing platforms and seats which dangle from within it.

There are the standard swings (two separate areas - one for the big swings and one which has a double set of the baby swings), a see-saw, a variety of music making tools (drums and a xylophone) and the lovely hill slide (seen at the Milton Park - which we will be reviewing soon - and the Enchanted Forest) which CK loves so very much. Its certainly got enough for the bigger kids (with the climbing and the ovals) and the little kids (with the see-saw, swings and slides) so it makes this a great park for families with kids of different ages.

CK is away today but I'll get her to add her rating shortly. I would give it 7. If this was your local then you'd be pretty darn happy, but its not in the league of the "wow" parks like Colmslie, Kalinga or the Enchanted Forest.

RATED:

Age Groups: It caters for all ages quite well.
Kid Friendliness: normally I'd say it was friendly - there have been a couple of brutish kids recently which have put me off a little - I think because its a climbing park it does attract older kids who are sometimes a little rougher.
Parent Friendliness: most parents have been good but there have been a couple of jerk parents there recently too (to go with the brutish kids). I'd suggest if you do have younger kids and want to try this park out go during school times.
Shadiness: wonderful canopy of trees
Tricked Out: the climbing frames are very nice
Picnic/BBQ: some tables and benches but the BBQ is over the road (too far away for you to try and be at this park but BBQ your food)
Shabbiness: always litter and graffiti free
Toilets: no toilets
Hovering Required: No you can see everywhere in the park from wherever you stand. As I say, the kids are prone to running out into the fields here so be prepared for that!
Bring Yr Bike: No there are no bike paths here. Across the road (with the BBQ) I think there are, but its a separate area altogether
Wow: there are a couple of things here which make CK really excited, but its not going to knock your socks off.