Definitely the biggest playground I've ever been to! It has it all... swings, giant climbing…read morestructure and very high rope bridge, flying fox, tunnels and slides, rope climbing web, etc. We spent more than 2 hours here and had a group of kids ranging from age 1 to 12. We definitely will be back whenever we're in the area!!

Drawn in by the potential of the Armory Wharf Cafe (review http://frid.co/nikCOQ) I found my self…read moredriving a bit out of my way to give it a go. Not knowing a great deal about this park, when I arrived I was amazed to see the play area with the shiny slippery slides, climbing areas and massive swings. This is an awesome park. While some parts of it still seem under development, and there is a real lack of shade areas, this has to be one of the best play areas I have seen in Sydney. If your kids can not have fun here they are simply not trying hard enough. While it appeared there was a tonne of parking available, on the weekend you are going to find it challenging. As for what to bring when you come, if you have a bike, bring it as there is a huge bike track to check out. If you don't have one, you can rent one ( http://frid.co/qSpPMO ). Of course if you want to chill out and relax, perhaps with a coffee, then head to either the Armory Wharf Cafe or the Armory Wharf Canteen ( http://frid.co/nKLbIw - which is only open on weekends and public holidays). Alternatively you could grab one of the benches near the free BBQ hot plates and cook up a couple of snags. If you are looking for the perfect place to have a kids birthday party, this might be it! You just might not want to do it on the weekend...

I love taking my kids to this park. Locally situated in North Parramatta, it has undercover tables,…read morea park with swings/slides and lookouts, plenty of tree cover and open space and a bubbler for when you get thirsty. For the sports minded people, there is a half court basketball court and a half court netball court.

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.

150 acres of bushland and a big lake within a few km's of Parramatta CBD - what else needs to be…read moresaid? Lake Parramatta is like a little piece of the Blue Mountains in suburbia. It's tucked away between James Ruse Drive, Pennant Hills Road and North Rocks Road and surprisingly there are even locals that don't realise its there or haven't been there. The lake has only just re opened for swimming this year (2015) and there is a smallish roped off swimming section with a few life guards watching. (Not sure if these are only there on the weekends though). Plenty of people were swimming elsewhere anyway and the area off the wharf at the Southern end seems popular for people to swim with their dogs and the rocks on the North Rocks Rd side popular with kids for jumping off the rocks into the water. If you drop in during the week, especially in the morning, its like a 'who's who' of govt departments and local tradies. They all seem to drive there and pull up for the morning coffee and newspaper overlooking the lake. Weekends in summer are extremely busy and parking within the reserve can be a struggle. A vacant picnic table is about as rare as a flying unicorn unless you get there early so bring a rug as there is plenty of grassed areas to lay about on. In terms of facilities there are BBQ's, kids play ground, toilets, and a cafe serving decent food, okay coffee, and gelato. There are also great marked bushwalking trails right around the perimeter of the lake. Great place to escape the hustle and bustle without needing to go too far!

Nice on lead dog walk with the opportunity for a good dog swim. Depending on our walking pace it…read moreshould take just over an hour.

When it comes to parks in Sydney focused at families, this one sure raises the bar. While my first…read moreimpression was terrible, that quickly changed. Out for a bit of a drive on the weekend my family and I ended up on the other side of the river from this park. While there was an awesome area for picnics at the Wangal Centenary Bushland Reserve (review http://frid.co/uGIdV5 ), it did not have any playground area for the kids to burn off some energy. So we jumped back in the car, waited 5 min for the ferry to let us on, and then crossed the rivet over to Putney park. One of my friends from twitter had suggested this park as a great place to take the family, so I thought it worth a try. Parking the car at the start of the park it really looked nothing special. The first thing I saw was a massive slippery slide... but the angle was such that the kids had to force themselves down it. Maybe good for little kids? In any case, seeing a glimpse of the water through the trees I figured it was worth a walk down there to have a look. Finally finding some stairs down, the park opened up in to a wide grassy section with BBQs and covered tables. You could probably fit a couple of hundred people down here if you so desired. It was massive, and basically right on the water. But it did not finish there. As we walked around the bay, past the toilet blocks, we could see a climbing gym and a heap of things to keep the boys occupied. That said, they did not even touch the climbing area as up some stairs and towards the happy screams of kids was a massive water feature. Basically it has two wading pools connected with a stream. It is a little bit worrying to see so many rocks around, so close parental supervision is required, but my boys stripped off straight away and started splashing to their hearts content. Hell, this place even has a water slide. This place has to be one of the best parks I have found in Sydney. It is worth checking out.

Love putney park! It is a great place for family picnics with beautiful waterviews in the…read morebackground. You can sit and watch the boats rock in the bay while your snags sizzle away on the electric barbeques. There are large grassed areas for running and kicking a ball plus you can keep the kids entertained with the two fun playgrounds. For the warmer days there is a fun splash paddle pool for the kiddies.The water play area has two nicely landscaped shallow paddling pools with a little river running between them. Definitely worth a visit for a family fun day out!

An oasis on Victoria Road, West Ryde, for kids! And it is free and it has parking!…read moreSwings, covered sand pit, cycle track for littlies with pretend petrol station, loos and bubbler What more do you need!

Decent size playground with nothing too different... except what I LOVED was that there's a small…read moreplayground with everything baby-sized! It's so rare to find playgrounds for babies with slides and tunnels their size, so this was a great find :) The park also has lots of green grass and picnic space.

This is a well kept park that is suitable for all members of the community. If you are interested…read morein learning to sail the Concord and Ryde Sailing Club have lessons during the school holidays. The cement path through the park links a variety of parks from Rydalmere to Putney and beyond. Cyclist use this path extensively and often there are the early morning walkers getting that bit of exercise before work. The park has bench seats and is very close the Kissing Point Wharf. There is a ferry from this wharf every hour and it is less than an hour into the city. If you are catching a ferry go early especially on the weekends. Sometimes the ferry will continue past the wharf if it is full to capacity. The beautiful feature of the park is the very large bronze fish that are on poles. The fish change direction moved by the wind.