Categories
NSW Olympic Park

Wentworth Common – Marjorie Jackson Parkway, Olympic Park NSW 2127

Overall: Nappy change table broken 🙁 Otherwise, it’s a great place!

Good Points: Fabulous park. Good size public toilets. Smell-free toilets.

Bad Points: Broken nappy change table. 

It’s great to find beautiful, lush parks in the middle of Sydney. On this outing, we checked out Wentworth Common at Olympic Park. This area is wonderful! You don’t have to pay for parking, although it does have a time limit so keep an eye on it if you plan on staying there all day. There’s swings, sandpits, BBQ areas, cycle paths, flying fox, climbing ropes, a big oval, and loads of shaded areas to set up a picnic. It’s our new favourite 🙂

The thing we were most keen to check out, as always, were the facilities for caring for our little ones. To get to the park area, you have to walk along the cycle way which takes you past the public toilets. The wall mounted fold out baby change table is inside the disabled bathroom. However, on this trip the table was broken. There’s a hand written notice on it by one of the SOP Rangers, saying not to use it as it’s broken and apologising for any inconvenience. We haven’t a clue when it will be repaired and ready for use again, but for now…….it’s cactus. So if you’re thinking of heading here with the little ones who require nappy changes, BYO change mats to use on the ground or in the back of the car.

Apart from a dodgy out-of-action change table, it’s a great place to go with the family 🙂 We’ll be heading back again for sure (and with any luck, the change table will be repaired and usable).

Photo9.jpg
Photo9.jpg
Photo8.jpg
Photo8.jpg
Photo7.jpg
Photo7.jpg
Photo6.jpg
Photo6.jpg
Categories
NSW Olympic Park

Lilies on the Park – Bicentennial Park, Australia Ave, Olympic Park NSW 2127

Overall: Disappointing. Nappy change only (if the lights are working in the parent room).

Good Points: The parent room is easy to find. There’s a change table inside it, plus sink, soap, hand dryer and nappy bins. An additional change table can be found in the female toilets. The parent room door locks from the inside.

Bad Points: The doorway is narrow, and the door is heavy to open. The room is small. The lights don’t work. The sink and soap unit are too high. The change table in the female toilets has bins directly underneath it, making the table unsteady to use.

 

This Parent Room is so disappointing! For this part of Bicentennial Park which promotes itself as being so kid-friendly and a favourite among families, they probably haven’t had to use the Parent Room. It’s taken a few visits to Lilies on the Park Cafe over some months to finally be able to get into the Parent Room. It’s just one room, which is lockable from the inside. So once someone is in there, there’s no room for anyone else. If you’re waiting to use it. I’d suggest using the change table in the female toilets instead. For the dads out there, please let me know if there’s a change table in the male toilets. I sure hope there is. Poor dads are forgotten too often.

Anyway, we finally picked a good day to visit the park, cafe and the Parent Room. It was vacant so we opened the door to check it out. Once inside, the door closed and we were in pitch black darkness. The freaking lights weren’t working!!!! To stop my little one from panicking I whipped the door open fast to let in some light from outside. I looked inside and out for a light switch, but couldn’t see one anywhere. If anyone does know where this mysterious light switch is located, please let us know. There’s probably loads of families out there who’d like to know where it is.

Thankfully the door can be chocked open, but it doesn’t allow for any privacy when this has to be done. The change table is the standard wall mounted fold out variety. It’s relatively clean and the safety straps are intact. There’s a bench underneath to rest nappy bags. The sink is too high for little kids to reach and the faucet is tough enough for adults to handle let alone small children. The soap unit is mounted even higher against the wall than the sink, making it another impractical feature in the room. A mother visited the room with her daughters after we’d been in there, and she was not impressed at all. It’s ridiculous for a parent to have to lift her child to reach the sink to wash hands. What kind of parent room is this?

Photo7.jpg
Photo7.jpg
Photo6.jpg
Photo6.jpg
Photo5.jpg
Photo5.jpg
Photo4.jpg
Photo4.jpg

The female toilets are probably a better option for nappy changes. At least the lights work in here. The change table, however, has a couple of bins underneath it meaning you can’t completely lay the table flat for use. There must be some absolute gems looking after the toilet facilities here (*note sarcasm). Now we’ve finally reviewed the parent room here, we won’t be coming back to Lilies. Time to check out some of the other parks in the area.

Categories
NSW Olympic Park

The Overflow, Olympic Blvd, Olympic Park NSW

Reviewed by B


Overall: Good for a public toilet block. Parent Room at both male and female sides of the toilet block. Nappy change only. 


Good Points: Easy to find. Easy to get inside. Change table is in good condition. Roomy. Nappy bins.


Bad Points: Well, it’s a public bathroom so it doesn’t smell the best, but it is good considering. The door of the Parent Room, at the female toilet end of the block, did not lock properly from the inside. 

Looking towards the Cauldron – love this park!



I love Olympic Park. You can spend the whole day there, have a wonderful time and not spend a cent. Love it! The Overflow area is probably one of my absolute favourite spots there. It’s simple to get a car park, close to food outlets (if you didn’t bring food with you), there’s a great shaded playground, loads of trees, the cauldron/fountain and loads more. And no, I’m not paid to say this……i just really enjoy going there with my little family. 

Parent Rooms are directly opposite ANZ Stadium

The toilet block and Parent Rooms at The Overflow are directly opposite ANZ Stadium. There aren’t any stairs to navigate, just wide walkways and ramps. And for anyone not involved in the nappy change/toilet process, there are lovely park benches with big trees providing cool shade while you wait. 

The female toilet end of the block

The male toilet end of the block

I like that there’s two Parent Rooms. One at the male toilet end and the other at the female toilet end of the block. A few Parent Rooms I’ve come across seem to only cater for mums, and my darling hubby has found a couple that do not allow men in them at all, which can make dads feel quite left out. This setup fixes that problem, providing Parent Rooms at both ends of the block. 

Just look for the signs!

Now while I have been referring to these nappy change facilities as Parent Rooms, it’s a pretty big stretch. The signs on the side of the door in the following photo do say Parent Room, but it’s really a disabled toilet with a wall mounted fold out change table included. Still, it’s better than having to change a bottom on the picnic rug while everyone is in the middle of lunch.

A bit generous calling it a Parents Room

Easy to find, easy access

The door is easy to open, and the room can fit a pram inside without any hassles. The only problem I had was trying to lock the door from the inside. The latch was not cooperating. I’m sure it’ll be fixed by the time we head back there, but for someone who is very keen on security and privacy I wasn’t too impressed.

Wall mounted fold out change table

Inside was pretty clean. Big plus for a public bathroom. Usually they’re so scungy, dirty and awful smelling you feel like a good hose down yourself once you get out. But this is pretty good by all accounts. It’s light enough, great airflow, and quite roomy too. 

Clean and in good condition

The change table is clean and in pretty good condition. Nappy bins are just to the right, which is very handy and sensible. 

Nappy bin, sanitary bin and loo

For little ones learning to use the toilet, they may need some assistance with this one. It’s low but depending on how tall your little one is, they might need a hand getting on and off. Also the toilet paper dispenser is a bit out of reach of little arms. Being a disabled toilet though, the railings surrounding the loo will probably come in handy with little ones who are using the loo and learning to be more independent (they can use the railings to help get on and off the toilet!).

Sharps units, hand dryer, soap and sink.

The sink, soap dispenser and hand dryer are all clean and working. There’s a couple of sharps units mounted on the wall, so be prepared for questions about them. Little ones may need help washing hands as the sink is a pretty standard height and the soap dispenser is a little high for most young children. The hand dryer still shocks my bub, so I’m a big fan of paper towel units. But you know what, all the little things aside…..as far as public toilets go……this is pretty good. Clean, not too bad on the nose, nothing broken (apart from the door latch not working properly) and no graffiti! 

When you’re spending time at The Overflow, you’re probably not looking to spend quality time in the bathroom anyway. To feed, I’d pick one of the lovely shady trees to sit under. For rest and play, do the same near the fabulous playground. It really is a great spot, and again…..as far as public loos go, the baby change facilities are in good shape.