This is the perfect park for kids and big kids alike! The newly built playground is fantastic and…read morealways full of Energetic kidlets! Spend an afternoon with family and have a BBQ - the park has 2 electric BBQs with shelter and tables.. Bring down some bread and feed the beautiful ducks, swans and if your lucky try and spot my mate "Eel" - he's massive and loves eating bread!!

Awesome park for kids and families. There's always a lot to do. There is plenty of parking near by…read more My sister bought her kids here several times to feed the birds. The BBQ shelters are a great addition.

Wave pool! Steam room.. Sauna.. Spas.. Two indoor basketball courts. Squash courts.. Public…read morelibrary.. This place is the best! The staff are always friendly and helpful. Centre opens early - around 5ish I think and closes by around 9ish.. Great place to bring the kids

I have hosted two 10 year old boys birthday parties here in the last two years, the latest being…read moreyesterday. We love it, super easy, super fun, super awesome staff! This isn't your flashy hyperkart experience. Its gritty, it's petrol motors and that's what makes it even funner! we are looking forward to hosting another party at this venue soon. Kids had a ball. Thanks Spitfire!

Took my son here as the website explicitly said 7 and older can drive. Got there after an hour of…read moretravelling for them to say they can't let kids on the carts. It takes 1 minute to put a message on your site to stop people wasting their time travelling to your place, but you don't respect your customers, do you? Pathetic. Zero stars, but I have to click on the stars to do the review.

Yesterweek, in the intense autumnal sun* I walked along the Parramatta riverbank. I was not…read moreunaccompanied. Sunday morning joggers, dog-walkers, touristy hikers passed me by while less active nappers stretched out on the grass. But my Riverside Walk was also accompanied by something else: a colonial soundscape. Before setting out on my self-guided tour of four historically-evocative artwork installations on the river foreshore, I downloaded the FREE podcast "Life Along the Riverbank" via iTunes, which includes four audio tracks and a full colour brochure of the tour. The idea is that the artworks, the text incorporated into these visual works, and the audio conjure up the colonial world of the early 1800s. You get to hear real stories of real everyday people; cons, free men and women, children, aboriginal people of the region - the Burramatta - and soldiers, while you stand in the very spots where their histories unfolded and became entangled forever. The audio tracks are great; the voiceovers capture the accents authentic to the period and the quotations have been pulled directly from primary sources. Some choice sound effects also transport you to a time when Parramatta was a brutal military garrison town. The artworks and soundscape aim to reveal "stories of hardship, love, loss, survival, order and punishment" and in that they certainly succeed! The tour itself is very short in terms of walking distance; beginning just behind the Parramatta Wharf where the Rivercat comes in and ending at the Gasworks Bridge. The audio tracks are also not overly long. I still managed to draw the whole tour out to a couple of hours, however, as I photographed every inch of the spaces at every conceivable angle and, if I'm honest, had a little difficulty finding Stop 2 and Stop 4...but I'll say more on that later. You could do the whole tour much quicker than I did. In fact, the total audio time is approximately 10 minutes. Stop 1 "STORYWALLS" harmonise nicely with the natural landscape as they look like brown hills beneath a beautiful old shady tree. Each "hill" contains text; details of notables who lived in Parramatta; an Aboriginal missionary, a female teacher, convicts (including poor Ann Mash who was sentenced to seven years for stealing a bushel of wheat!), and the painted, spear-weilding Baluderri who "came to Governor Phillip's hut in a violent rage" threatening to kill the white men who had broken his canoe." These people are made more real to you as you listen to the podcast. Stop 2 "THE BACKYARD OF HARRISFORD" was a bit hard to find! I also recommend you actually walk up the path and follow it right past the new apartment blocks there to look at the front of HARRISFORD, which was the original school for colonial children and went on to become the first King's School. Conservation work is currently underway, but there is plenty to see even from the outside. Listen to the podcast to hear the tales of students who used to play there. Stop 3 "SENTRY BOX" - you can't miss this one. A bright red and white striped artistic re-interpretation of a colonial military Sentry Box that once stood here in the 1790s. It is rather gothic-looking with the shovels and pitchforks etc that stick out the top. Inside the Sentry Box are more primary source quotes, which you can listen to on the podcast. Stop 4 "WINDMILL SHADOW" - I walked right over this one just in front of the Gasworks Bridge initially as this artwork is subtle compared to the nearby Sentry Box. It is comprised of charcoal tiles against the otherwise white cement pavement. The charcoal lines represent approximately where the shadow of Howell's mill would have fallen if it were still standing. The audio track for this one was my favourite. A 48-second folk song about Howell's Mill sung in that really open-throated colonial way that you'd normally associate with sea shanties including songs like "Botany Bay." I confess to playing that track a few times before moving on! It utterly transported me to a time when the colonists relied heavily on windmills for the power that would help them survive an incredible unforgiving environment. It's so peaceful here now, but the self-guided tour podcast and these artworks go a long way towards helping you imagine a time when it was anything but. The artworks and the podcast are all part of Parramatta City Council's "Parramatta Stories Project" and were created by historian Michael Flynn and artists Susan Milne and Greg Stonehouse. It's great that Parramatta Council has made such an effort to preserve the incredible historical heritage of Parramatta. *Review was originally written and posted 29 March 2014.

When you get off the Rivercat at Parramatta wharf, you're right at the end of the navigable part of…read morethe river. There's a little weir, with a walkway over the top, and beyond that, parks and walkways along the foreshore. When I arrived on a bright, sunny day, there was a guy fishing over the weir, officeworkers inhaling lunch under the trees and others power-walking, trying ever so hard not to puff. As I sat on the plentiful grass, a kookaburra chased off some somnolent looking pigeons and then flew off over the waterlilies. Never having visited the river here before, I was amazed to see so much green space so near the city centre of Parramatta, and greatly enjoyed my walk up to the Heritage Centre, just over Lennox Bridge. Along much of the way, you can enjoy the 'Riverside Walk' artpiece by Aboriginal artist Jamie Eastwood. It visually represents the history of the area from an Aboriginal point of view. There's little plaques giving a historical backing to the visuals, and would make a great way to educate the kids. This area's been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, and it's quite a legacy to think about as you take each step. The ancient history of this country and its people may not be as visible as the Pyramids or Stonehenge, but it's here, under our feet. It just takes a bit more imaginative effort and interest on our part to conjure up. It's only a ten minute walk or so up to the Heritage centre (and a stop on the free bus loop) and beats pounding the asphalt no end.

Great watermark and play areas for the kids. There's a…read moremodern bbq area. Plenty of parking. Although not that easy to get to from the Train Station

Worst experience, rude and lying staff. This place does not respect customers, and believes…read morecustomers are always wrong. We had two heats. The first heat was great fun. For the second heat a got a different car (one of my buddies sat in the car I originally had). The second heat was rubbish, the car performed poorly, and stopped working part way though, meaning I missed out. The chap on the track said no worries mate, we'll sort you out. I spoke to the manager afterwards and he told me to get $&@"?!

Who could resist a go-kart raceway, really fast, really close to the ground, real G-Force. It's…read moreliterally an arcade game, but you actually feel & hear the wind whipping past you, at nearly 100km per hour. They're serious about safety here, so get there early and leave enough time for set up and preparation, also bring a change of clothes, as you can get serious hot and messy in the go-karts. It's great for corporate days, and family friendly outings, you can rest assure that the raceway clerk of Course will be keeping a good eye and are strictly monitoring the track throughout their fun race time. This can get seriously competitive, so be sure to make a few bets before you get onto the raceway, and be sure to scream and rant and rave to your besties as they race past the observer stand.

So, I've never been to Soul Cycle or Fly Wheel but as they're all the rage in the states I was…read moreexcited when a friend told me a similar version had opened up in Sydney- Don't think that this is anything like the cycling classes you'd take at Fitness First or something. The whole point of Scenic Cycle is to have a fun class (think the latest jams blaring as you ride) while you bike through a particular route (Hawaii, Switzerland, you name it!). There are massive screens set up in the front of the room that you follow along with as you ride- having the road in front of you somehow manages to take away some of the pain associated with exercising. New bikes, a great instructor, shower facilities, centrally located, class times that are conducive to people who work...this place is great.

Premium brand experience that offers something very different to your traditional spin / gym set…read moreup. Love the small boutique feel and the way the staff make you feel so welcomed. The pay as you go concept is genius and the facilities are always clean and well equipped. I look forward to escaping the office to spend my lunch break working out while touring various parts of the world! Love this place...

The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic is an annual canoe race of 111 km from Windsor to Brooklyn, along the…read moreHawkesbury River to Broken Bay, usually at the end of October. The first event was held in 1977 and has grown over the years to a huge event of currently about 600 competitors. Festivities take place in Macquarie Park and across the river in Governor Phillip Park. The Hawkesbury is great for boating and canoeing because of its smooth water. The canoes and kayaks leave Windsor between 4pm and 6pm on a Saturday and pass 20 safety checkpoints during the night. The fastest people take less than 10 hours, but the average time is closer to 15 hours. The Classic raises funds for medical research. The 2013 Hawkesbury Classic will be held on Saturday October 26th.

Located about 5km from Hornsby or 25km from Sydney, this has got to be one of the best National…read moreParks on offer. There is not much that you can not do here no matter your interest. If you are after camping, picnic areas, hiking, bike riding, BBQ areas, canoeing, fishing, swimming, or even boating/sailing, then this is the place for you to head to when you get a spare day. I say day as to make the trip here worthwhile, that is about how much time it will require. Besides that, as entry to the park is not free, if you are after your money's worth, you should try and stick around a bit. While the obvious fee is the $11/car ticket machines you see everywhere, the website goes into a little bit more detail. While I have not yet had to pay anything more than the $11 before, the details of potential other charges from the website include: Daily entry fees: if you're arriving by bus or car and walking or cycling to The Basin you'll need to pay daily entry fees of $4 adults, $2 children (pre-booked groups) or $4.40 adults, $2.20 children (groups without a booking); there is no daily entry fee for teachers/educational supervisors (1 adult per 10 children). Also, while I added an approximate opening and closing time for the gates to Yelp, different gates have different opening and closing times depending on the time of year. Thus... Gates to Bobbin Head and Appletree Bay are closed from 8pm to 6am during daylight savings periods, and 5.30pm to 6am at other times of the year. Gates to West Head are closed from 8.30pm to 6am during daylight savings periods, and 6pm to 6am at other times of the year. In this park, vehicle entry fees are $11 per vehicle per day. Be sure to check this park out if you have the chance as it really is stunning. Best of all, the Bobbin Inn actually has half decent coffee and breaky on offer (review http://frid.co/smNIYr ) so you might want to start your day there... :-)