Jacka Park in Freshwater

Jack Park Playground in Freshwater 

I’ve driven past Jacka Park a hundred thousand times. I’ve driven past slowly, round and round the block examining it but never tempted taking the kids because I saw that there wasn’t a fence. On one of these circuits my kids saw the park and I was sunk – the kids wouldn’t stop talking about it until we went to visit it. 

 

One windy afternoon we headed to Jacka Park to check it out and to placate my children who were desperately wanting to visit. 

 

Well it turns out Jacka Park is good. It’s definitely one to keep up your sleeves for a MORNING visit. 

 

 

Where is Jacka Park – is it Freshwater or Harbord

Location

Freshwater is a Northern Beaches suburb just North of Manly and south of Curl Curl and Dee Why. Freshwater does have a little beach but the playground is inland, just East of Manly Vale. 


Address

 

The address for Jacka Park playground is 83 -91 Wyndora Avenue, Freshwater, NSW, 2096. It is just off Oliver which is one of the main roads running through Freshwater and Harrods. 

 

If you know where Harbord Public School is, Jacka Park Playground is two blocks south of that. 

I don’t understand how Harbord fits into the Northern Beaches suburbs. I gather it is nestled in Freshwater. If you can help me understand this, please drop a comment on the blog post or on Facebook.

 

Parking 

 

There is a tiny little parking lot on Wyndora Avenue. For other parking you will have to circle the block to find somewhere to park. We managed to find parking on Glen Street on the day we visited.

 

What does Jacka Park Playground have?

 

This isn’t one of the big fancy new playgrounds like Walter Gors or Collaroy Beach Playground but it a good little playground. There is definitely enough to keep pre-schoolers and junior school kids entertained. 

 

 

There are the standard swings, slides and some climbing jungle gym equipment.  You’ll also find those little rockers, those twisty things and a little table and chairs in the middle of the playground.  

 

There are two jungle gyms. One is for bigger kids and has tyres to climb on one section, ropes in another area, a fireman’s pole and various stairs. My 4.5 year old loved it.  

 

The second jungle gym is for the smaller kids. It has a slide, some stairs to get to the slide, a little place to crawl through and a easy draw bridge.

 

There is also a little path that runs around the playground that kids could scoot or ride their bikes on. My kids were far too interested in playing ball though.

 

 

Jacka Park Playground Facilities

 

The playground isn’t fenced but lies far off from the road and lower down that the road.

 

There are hundreds of kids running around and yet none of them seem to gravitate towards the road, potentially because its too far away and too much hard work to get there. The playground has a low brick wall around it and a big patch of grass surrounding it.

 

There is dappled shade from the trees, a single shade cover over the playground and some seating with built in shade.  

 

Unfortunately there are no bathrooms in Jacka Park and to be honest I am not sure where the closest coffee shop is for coffee and a bathroom break. The closest café may be back in Freshwater or further up the road in Curl Curl.

 

 

When to visit

 

Do not visit from 2:40pm onwards if you have little pre-schoolers.

Just before 3pm a world of chaos arrives in the form of kindergarten and school children. The park goes from being a quiet beautiful space for kids to a dangerous and loud nightmare.

 

I am sure that there are a lot of well behaved lovely children playing in the playground after school but there are just too many and it doesn’t bode well for smaller kids.

 

 

There are so many great playgrounds on the Northern Beaches, we love the following playgrounds too. 

 

collaroy beach playground

Corbett Playground in Manly Vale

Green Street Park Playground in Brookvale

Balmoral Beach Playground

Walter Gors Park and Playground in Dee Why

 

 

2 thoughts on “Jacka Park in Freshwater

  1. Freshwater was the original name of the suburb. It was named that due to the freshwater creek that ran through Jacka Park to the beach. It was changed back to Freshwater (from Harbord) approx 12 years ago.
    Why is this called Mom’s blog not Mum’s blog?

    1. That’s really interesting, thank you! I’ve wondered and wondered for ages. I’m an expat and my kids call me Mom 🙂

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