Five free local kids adventure playgrounds to visit this weekend

Now you have adventure parks: purpose-built to challenge, entertain and exercise children and designed to delight. The best bit? It’ll only cost a few litres of fuel to get there, because with no entry fees the rest is free. Release the kiddies on one of these, if you dare.

Those who haven’t been to Wallan recently might not recognise it these days. The sleepy town’s proximity to Melbourne has seen a building boom, which means families with tonnes of kids, and the council has provided this cracking adventure playground. It’s got a 25-metre flying fox, a five-storey tower with three slides, swings, an interactive sandpit and even a water-filled splash park for shallow shenanigans. There are barbecues to make a day of it, the skate park is nearby and it’s wheelchair accessible.

This extraordinary adventure park cost $4 million to build and if you live in Sydney, you’ll always have an answer to the perennial moan from kids of “I’m bored!” Tear them away from their screens and head to Casula Parklands by the Georges River. The munchkins can run amok on the wild slides, clamber over the eight-metre high Skywalk, choose between two flying foxes or attempt the Ninja Turtle training circuit. Toddlers have their own, less daunting area, and adults have undercover areas to relax and prep a picnic.

The only problem with this multi-million dollar playground in the new community of Flagstone south of Brisbane is discovering what were once kids have been transformed into part commando, part monkey. The park is dominated by an 11 metre climbing tower with rope and plank bridges leading to a number of slides, plus there are rope climbing courses, a flying fox, tricky tyre swings and a dedicated toddler area. Thankfully, it’s all under shade with padded landing areas.

Not to be confused with Luna Park in Melbourne’s version of St Kilda, this generously proportioned play-park north of Adelaide is nonetheless a place where kids can have some serious fun. Centred around a giant rocky mound – okay, anyone under 12 will call it a volcano – are any number of slides, a castle with drawbridge, a pirate ship, flying fox and much more. It’s kind of on the way to the Barossa Valley, which will be kiddie payback for all those boring adult winery visits.

Any adult bringing young ’uns to Bibra Lake will wish for the years to fall away because this place is so good, it’s too tempting to join in the fun. Just south of Perth CBD, the adventure park is almost a hectare of whimsical landscaping and sculptures interspersed with climbing towers with tree-top rope walk, a pair of flying foxes, a pole maze and splash pool with a cool tortoise built for clambering upon.

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