Community Park Playground- Parksville

We've never been to Parksville before but this weekend we managed to sneak away from Victoria and finally got a chance to check out some of the things that Parksville has to offer. I'm not going to wax lyrical about the beaches and fantastic family friendly places to stay or visit, instead I'm going to do what this blog is all about and talk playgrounds. Well, one in particular- the Parksville Community Park Playground, located right on the water in the centre of town.

This park offers an almost bewildering array of playground equipment and without spending an hour documenting everything with a clipboard and pen I can't possibly list it all. I will, however, give a good overview. If you're thinking of going here and wonder if there is something for your child, I'm pretty sure that there is, although because the playground is more old than new and on a sand base, it's not very accessible and would probably not be ideal for kids in wheelchairs. There are facilities such as washrooms, drinking fountain and a food concession, which I expect are seasonal.

Located in the community park, there are large grassy areas, picnic tables, shady places to sit and the whole park goes right out to the beach and the sea. We have reviewed a few parks with glorious views and this is one of them, although because the playground is set back somewhat it doesn't reap the full benefit of the location so take a few minutes to walk out to the water and take it all in.

The playground equipment is a combination of old and new and looks like they have added to it over the years. Alternatively, they might have gone to a used-playground-convention...if there is such a thing...and bought a surprise bag and then planted it all down in the one park. There are literally restored vintage pieces here. There are a bunch of old metal bouncy things with restoration plaques on them, there are old fashioned diggers, a funky old fashioned merry-go-round and an array of old school metal climbing frames. There are some really interesting pieces here but they almost get lost in the sheer numbers. Mind you, with the number of kids around, it's probably a good thing. Our kids favourite climbing frames were the helicopter and the airplane.



There are some small scale climbing structures for the toddlers, and then there are several bigger ones that would suit all ages, but especially big kids. There is a multi plastic tubed slide feature that seemed to be the most popular and there is also a huge long continuous play style structure on the far side away form the parking behind the zip slide. Because, of course, there's a zip slide there too. Oh, and did I mention the water park? This large long climbing frame is a really good one for kids who like to climb because it offers a number of different climbing options to get from one end to the other, starting with low ramps and ending with a weird sort of climbing web hanging basket that I saw a few kids attempt but everyone gave up, not quite sure how to approach it.

There is too much to review the water playground in here so follow the links for more about that. In fact, there's so much here that I will leave the photos to speak for themselves. This playground is not the most glamorous around but it's got a lot to offer, especially when you figure in all the facilities around.