Plenty of parking Heaps of room for the kids to run around…read more I personally love this place as I got married there

This is most definitely a 'destination playground'. Thank goodness I found one! This is a place for…read morebirthday parties, work Christmas parties, get-togethers and why-not weekend adventures. It has wonderful play equipment, lots of space, sheltered table and chairs, beautiful trees and lawn, toilets and drink fountains. This is such a pretty and well maintained area with many walks and sections to the park. I have included a map of the park so you can have an idea of the space and fun you can have there. If you're wanting to have a large gathering at this park, I would suggest calling the Onkaparinga City Council (the number is listed in the business info section) to see if there's a booking system or a requirement to being able to request a certain area of the park. Visiting Thalassa would be a 'whole day' adventure to get the most out of the place. It sure looks like great fun and is definitely on my list of 'places to go back to and explore further'. I'm not sure if dogs are allowed at this park. I don't remember seeing a sign stating that they weren't allowed, however at this type of park there could be restrictions. *BBQs* *Sheltered table/chairs* *Stunning scenery*

This is such a great place. With a playground, skate park AND beautiful bike/hiking tracks through…read morethe local bush land, this really is a pretty place. While it isn't the biggest playground, they certainly have designed it with a wide range of age groups in mind. There's a mix of rubber ground and bark chip ground with toilets right in the middle of the skating area and the playground area. I spoke to a local who said the skate park is great (I've been out of the skating scene for too long to know hehehe). There were a couple of broken street lights in the car park but he assured me that the park gets maintained and looked after well, and he was surprised to see the damage himself. Pack your family up, put the bikes in the car and head over here. It would be a lovely Sunday outing. This is definitely one to check out. It's such a pretty place and while there's more construction happening at the moment (looks like an extension to the playground) this really is a happy blend of playground and nature with plaques along the way with information about the wildlife in that area. *I didn't see a drink fountain or BBQ* *Dogs allowed...under effective control of course* *Stay tuned to this post, I want to check the tracks out more myself! :-) See you there!*

Minkarra Park is a great place to take the kids on school holidays when you just need to get out of…read morethe house. It has exercise equipment, large skate park, hiking trails, fenced dog park and playground with toilets. Whilst I mainly visited for the playground with friends, I was disappointed that it does not cater for crawlers or children under 2 very well. Some of the equipment was too high/difficult for them to climb and they spent the majority of the time on the rubber ground. There was also no toddler swing, so if your kids like swings as much as mine then it's not the place to go. That being said it s well kept and tidy, but probably suited more to 3/4yo and up.

Oh my goodness! In amongst the two and three star ratings, it's always so nice to write a review on…read morea playground with more substance than most. This playground is beautiful, engaging, and appropriate for all age groups. Not only is the area incredibly pretty and quiet, it actually extends quite a way and would be a lovely place to ride bikes or walk. There are sheltered table/chairs, BBQ's and drinking fountains to seal the deal on this four star community meeting-and-having-fun place. The toilets are a little walk away but not far enough to be a pain. This is green area and dotted with trees, it really is beautiful. Perhaps the only downfall of this gorgeous place is that the play area isn't fenced to the road, although it is a quiet neighbourhood. This is definitely a place to visit for a BBQ and play. *Dogs allowed* *BBQ* *Tables/chairs* *Drink fountain*

This is quite a surprising playground. When you look at the equipment, it really suits a variety of…read moreages and skills. It sits between a busy road and a not-as-busy road and even though it isn't fenced, there's still a fair amount of space to buffer any children who like to do 'runners'. The shaded/sheltered area has bench seats but no table. It's quite close in proximity to the playground. There wasn't a drinking fountain (I know, I'm sad too!) and the whole area is bark chipped. There's enough room for dogs to run around but I'd make sure they were on a leash or well under control seeing as the area isn't fenced. All in all, quite a nice little space for the locals of Aberfoyle Park! *Dogs allowed* *No drinking fountain* *Shaded seating area*

This is definitely a playground for the little tackers. I can't imagine a child over the age of 9…read morebeing entertained here for too long, at least not on the play equipment. The park does stretch a fair way so riding a bike or kicking a ball would be an option. I really liked the natural shade over this play area, and I liked that the bench seat was actually inside the play area also. This is a very pretty park and if you were fairly local with toddlers, worth checking out for a change. *Dogs allowed* *Drinking fountain working*

The recently redeveloped Sturt River Walkway runs from the Old Cormandel Institute (now the Big Dog…read moreStudio) to the National Trust's Winn's Bakery on Winn's Road following the Sturt creek. Having been completely resurfaced and quite flat, the walk is a favourite for families with young children who find the terrain easy to navigate on their trikes, bikes and scooters and also a breeze for Mums and Dads with prams as the surface is smooth and easy to traverse. The new surface also benefits runners and joggers as the surface is easy on the knees and the chance of tripping is relatively low. The Walkway joins up nicely with the Frank Smith Park, Blackwood Forest and the Apex Park trails and can be easily set as the start of a long walk or just a quick trip with the dog and kids.

I resisted giving this a one star review because at the end of the day, children can have a great…read moretime with a box of tissues. This two star rating (and in fact all of my playground ratings) reflect my overall impression of the equipment, the area and if I would go out of my way to take my child there. The only way my child would be playing here is if it was next door to my place and even then, she would have to begging. First impressions; burnt out wheelie-bin, discarded child's bike and a speaker from something someone once owned all littered the area. These, and the tree hanging in front of the sign and the graffiti on the play equipment suggests to me that it doesn't get maintained well or often. It's an older style playground, sporting painted tyres, wooden planks and chains. The majority of the playground has a bark chip base. There's a lovely walking path up to the Hub shops and the playground IS fenced near the road. There! I said something positive! hehehe. Overall, this is not a 'destination' playground.

Quite a waddle from the rather busy Kenihans Road is a okay/slightly better than average…read moreplayground. In fact, if you have your car and have trouble walking downhill, you might want to enter from Buchanan Grove (head down Braeside Avenue and take your first left). It's a No Through Road so you may not get a park, but it's worth a try. Two things stand out at this playground, the pond/fountain and the massive green lawn, which doesn't say much for the playground......but it does have flying fox! This isn't a 'destination' playground (don't go out of your way to visit) but if you're in the area and want a nice place to eat lunch or feed the resident ducks, it's a nice place to be. The playground is quite a distance from the road (Kenihans Rd) and it's uphill so little ones are a bit more 'contained' than at other places. There's no fencing around the ponds and don't get excited when you see the drinking fountain, it doesn't work...or at least didn't when I wrote this. The ground cover is bark chip except for the swing area which is rubber. I have to say this......it's always greeeeeeeeeen! The massive lawn area always looks so inviting and most of the area gets some good shade in the afternoons. It's a good space to kick a footy, provided you don't mind playing on a bit of a hill or just letting the children run off all their excess energy. *Dogs allowed* *No toilets* *No BBQ*

First of all, please excuse the distant photograph of the playground. There were children playing…read moreon it and I don't like to take photos too close in those situations. I'm really glad there were children on it actually, it would be a shame to see a place like this empty on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The locals really would use this area well. There's a BBQ, a couple of shaded table/chair combos and a compact yet engaging playground. Can you believe that I forgot to check out the drinking fountain situation????? I must have had a moment of bliss watching the families making the most of this pretty play space. Children were on the playground. Parents and children were kicking footballs. Another child was riding around on his bike. Yay for great playgrounds and double yay for people using them! I didn't see a sign, but I imagine this could be a *No dogs within 10 meters of the play equipment* park

I hated giving this playground 2 stars but it just didn't justify 3. The playground is slightly…read moreabove the normal 'sleepy neighbourhood playground' with a marginally more exciting 'fort' area. Younger children would find this quite fun for a while but older children may look at it and not think much of it. There's some lovely shade spread out on the grass area from the lovely gum trees (can you tell I love gum trees??) but there isn't any sheltered table/chair areas. This area is missing a drinking fountain although it looks like some people have been drinking of another kind as you can see by the photo. At least there wasn't broken glass everywhere, just a few empty bottles. *Dogs allowed* *No drinking fountain* *Table and chairs but not sheltered*