North Adelaide Playspace Review aka Bundey’s Paddock / Tidlangga (Park 9) Playspace
by Susannah Marks
The North Adelaide Playspace is situated on the corner of Bundeys Road and MacKinnon Parade. With a mixture of open space, landscaping, nature play elements, sensory play opportunities and some shady space to sit, it was a big hit with our children (aged between 1 and 9).
It was great to see some sun today after all the wet weather we’ve been having in Adelaide lately and a great chance to get the children out of the house so that they could wear themselves out get some Vitamin D and enjoy spending time outdoors.
A friend suggested meeting for coffee (see below for suggestions of cafes nearby) at North Adelaide playground and so we found ourselves enjoying a cup of the good stuff while our children enjoyed this fabulous play space. My phone being fully charged (usually it’s down to critical battery thanks to all the Pokemon Go hunting that goes on in our household) I snapped a few photos so you can see what we loved about this playground.
There’s a wide range of play equipment including a slide, seesaws, big swing and climbing equipment. Our children liked the fact that the play equipment is constructed largely of wood. They loved the seesaw and working out how to balance themselves along it, and they enjoyed the climbing equipment and the little cubby house perched up high.
The North Adelaide Playspace has a lot of possibilities for open-ended play and our children were busy making up games and using their imaginations. They loved clambering about on the rocks, and investigating the landscaping.
Right beside the large rock garden there is a huge sand pit so it’s worth taking along some sand toys. If you’re concerned about cuts and bruises playing amongst the rocks, it may be an idea for kids to wear pants for exploring here. This area reminds us of what you’d find in an open creek bed if you were camping.
There’s also a nice big area of grass for children to kick a ball around on, a half basketball court and a tennis court, which were in use when we were there. The courts are situated in between the two playground areas.
Click here for all the best playgrounds for toddlers
See our top parks & playgrounds around Adelaide here.
One of the highlights for our children were the ‘jingly bells’ which are yellow and green coloured ‘blobs’ which are attached to the ground by heavy duty springs. The children had a great time trying to balance on them and noticed that if you wiggle about on them, or if the wind blows them they make a little jingling noise.
Or if you’re particularly good at balancing then they make very little noise at all. The children make it look much easier than it is!
As part of the landscaping associated with the children’s playspace a pocket orchard will also be incorporated, which will include 10 varieties of productive trees for the community to use.
The official opening of this community facility and orchard tree planting by the Adelaide City Council will be held on Saturday 15 October 2016 from 10.30am. This will be followed by coffee and cake.
Play & Go Tips for enjoying North Adelaide Playspace
- There are picnic tables dotted around the playspace (one is shaded) plus a BBQ area.
- There is a nearby toilet block with an accessible toilet – however there wasn’t any soap available so perhaps bring hand sanitiser if you’re concerned about hand hygiene.
- Keep an eye on your roaming toddler. There is some fencing on the side of the playground near the road – however the playspace isn’t fully fenced.
The fencing is thin wire with large spacing in between and there are openings like this for access to the road. Therefore it is not fully fenced so be alert with any toddlers who are ‘runners’.
- We drove there and there were plenty of diagonal parking spaces available.
- There was a shaded area over one of the picnic tables but we’d suggest you bring hats and sunscreen as there are play areas not in the shade. Large trees offer shade to the picnic tables near the MacKinnon Parade entrance.
Coffee options nearby!
There are plenty of coffee options on Melbourne Street that are an easy walk. First Pour, Cafe 99, UR Caffee, E for Ethel, The Store and Cibo North Adelaide are between 4 and 8 minutes walk away.
Click here for all the best playgrounds for toddlers
See our top parks & playgrounds around Adelaide here.
About Susannah: I’m a mum to three boys and a little girl and I am learning to embrace the chaos. I love my morning coffee, exercise, cranking up some good tunes on the stereo, and heading away to new places on holiday. Originally from New Zealand, I now call Adelaide home and I love getting out and about and exploring all the fabulous things for families to do in Adelaide.
See the Adelaide City Council website here for details.
What: Bundey’s Paddock / Tidlangga (Park 9) Playspace
Where: corner Bundeys Road & MacKinnon Parade, North Adelaide
When: Anytime
Who: All ages
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
Image Source: All photos by Play & Go
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