For the second time in this holiday season, our family spent another great day in Sydney Olympic Park’s Aquatic Center at Homebush, Sydney. Well, actually I don’t mind either, but this time I equip myself with my full weapon to produce this onsite blog entry.
If you want to drive here, don’t worry about the parking space. Remember, the facility is ‘leftover’ from Sydney Olympic 2000, so the parking space is olympic size as well. Furthermore, once you validate the ticket, you have free 4 hours parking – not bad….
Should you take public transport, probably train will be the most convenient. Just heading to ‘Aquatic Center’ after arrive at Olympic Park Station.
Aquatic Center Entrance
The main area
The Slide
Lap Pool and Spa
The entry ticket itself is really affordable. $6.6 for adult, $5.2 for children. Under 4 year is free and there is ‘spectator’ ticket for merely $3.20. Also family ticket for 2 adult+3 children (or 1 adult + 4 children) is price only $20.50. So, that’s it: full half day with your family at only around $20… Already includes parking! Cannot complain at all…
There are 4 big pools inside: the olympic size pool for serious swimmer, another big lap pool, a stream pool and big children pool with all the goodies: water spray, fountain, all of them. There is also a big slide and spa as additional facility.The quality of the water is superb: sparkling clean without smell of chlorine that make your eyes red.
Just this summer, they also just add a great feature for children to play around water, they call it “Water Playground” (see below)
The Water Playground
I guess the “Water Playground” is the real magnet for kids. Its main attraction is the big bucket on top of the roof that can be filled in full at around 10 minutes and spill all the water down. Just similar the one in Jamberoo. The splashing quite spectacular if you are near, so people just queue 2-3 minutes before the spill over to get more fun.
For the hungry tummy, 2 cafe/takeaway shop with ‘usual’ food such as fish and chip, nugget, coffee, soft drink, cake and the like are waiting for you on each floor. But don’t expect too much, they are just ’standard’ tummy filler. Oh, there is also outdoor area with plenty of seating and table or you can do a bit of picnic as well.
For your cloaking, there are 2 kinds of lockers. The untimed $2 locker (but can only be unlocked once, unless you insert another $2) or $3 per 3 hour locker. Make sure you read the instruction first to select the correct one. Otherwise just put your stuffs on the pool side. There are too many pool attendant hovering around to discourage the naughty hand – but you never know…
All and all, everything was good and in order. The only problem is that my laptop has running out of battery power and the kid and the mommy still want to play around. I guess it’s time for a cup of cappuccino for me….
Written by Denis Kristanda from pool side near the spa at Sydney Olympic Park’s Aquatic Center via broadband mobile.
