Saturday 5 December 2015

Australia's Best Adventure Playground!

After a bit of a rest yesterday, we were up early today for a day at the beach.  We packed a picnic lunch and left Julie's place with the mercury topping 38 degrees before 10am.
 
 
At Henley Beach, just 30 minutes away, we were delighted to find a much milder temperature of just 28 degrees.  Perfect!  We spent an hour or so kicking the beach ball up the beach towards the pier where there was a SLS Nippers carnival in full swing.  At Henley Precinct we headed up to Henley Square which has just received a $2M makeover.
 
We made the most of the new water feature.
 
And the outdoor dining areas.
 
After a game of beach volleyball and a swim, we headed into Glenelg for some lunch.  Located only 12 kms from Adelaide, Glenelg is a tourist mecca, due to its beach and many attractions, shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities.  
 
 
Late in the afternoon we headed for home, and continued the seemingly endless Battle of Hogwarts.  It was 5.45pm when I suggested to Bruce that we take a short detour into St Kilda to check out a playground that I had read about on the 'net.
 
 
This is a seriously good playground! St Kilda's free adventure playground covers 4 hectares along the seafront and has a life size pirate ship, fort, volcano, huge slides, flying foxes, a submarine, a bouncy boomerang and numerous other pieces of play equipment.  Opened in 1982 and funded through the Lions Club and the local Council, the park has this year received a $3.55M upgrade.
 
The fort is easy to explore via the stairs or the draw bridge.
 
The fort has an internal spiral slide and two external slides that are all super steep and incredibly quick.  So steep and quick that I shot straight out of the tunnel and straight off the end!
 

The fort overlooks the huge flying fox situated along the edge of the playground.  This flying fox is so big and so fast that it was a bit much for Fletcher.
 

 The finish is quite fast so you really need to hang on tight!  After a bump on the head, Fletch didn't return for a second go, but luckily there is a also a smaller flying fox that slows nicely towards the end. 
The Bouncy Boomerang

After a turn on the Bouncy Boomerang and the super sized swings, the boys couldn't wait to get me on the Volcano's lava slides.  Holy cow!  These slides must be almost vertical!  The photos speak for themselves!
The Lava Slides





 We had so much fun!
 
 As the sun went down we checked out the Pirate Ship
 
Complete with pirates, cannons and a gaol
 
It was 8.45pm and pretty much dark before we managed to drag ourselves away.  Over a bowl of leftovers eaten well after 9.30pm we excitedly relayed the day's events to Julie, Peppe and Tilly.
 
After an incredibly exhausting non stop 12 hour day, we all fell into bed, asleep before our heads hit their pillows.

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