Harpley Estate is a residential development in Werribee with an adventure playground and nature play space at its heart. The Harpley Estate playground has even been touted as Melbourne’s best playground!
The playground is certainly fantastic in terms of size, equipment and artistic construction.
Harpley park’s centrepiece is a brolga with stained glass wings which looks out onto a soft-fall nature inspired landscape with rocks, hills, grass and a winding river.
The playground boasts an awesome climbing fort from which you can get great views of the playground and the currently empty surrounds…
…a steep metal slide…
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…a 10m long giant double flying fox which can fit even little kids thanks to the swing chair…
…a couple of large tree log tunnels that double as rock climbing walls…
….a sandpit for digging concrete bones…
…a water play tap which was not in operation on our visit (only in summer probably)…
…colourful mix of cast iron animals scattered around….
….and more traditional playground equipment such the small roundabout and suspension bridge (but no swings!).
Near the BBQ shelters re are educational displays with two sound boxes that tell stories of the native Wathaurong people and information boards about a frog’s life cycle.
My favourite part of the landscaping are the rows of stepping stones as they are reminiscent of the World Heritage-listed Giant’s Steps in Northern Ireland. Lady AB and Baby 2.0 have fun navigating the stepping stones – I’m not sure how slippery those stones might be when wet so just be careful.
Note that one side of the playground is bounded by a lake. The water is close enough to be worrying – I had a heart-stopping moment where I lost Baby 2.0 and my first thought was that he’d wandered down to the lake. Other parents that I spoke to at the playground also expressed concern about the lack of fencing near the water so I hope that the developers take that into consideration. In the meantime, dress everyone in super bright clothing!
There are also no toilets at or near the playground, which inhibits you from being able to stay there for a long time with kids. However, there is free wifi….which seems an odd arrangement of priorities to me! I’d happily trade the free wifi for some loos and a fence.
While the Harpley Estate playground is heaps of fun there are a couple of issues which I think detract from it being ‘Melbourne’s best playground’. Definitely worth a trip if you’re in the area (eg visiting Werribee Open Range Zoo).
