Sebastopol Aquatic Playspace, Ballarat

Splash parks in western Victoria, Australia

The Sebastopol Aquatic Playspace is a free water play area in Sebastopol, south of the Ballarat city centre, that includes colourful spray hoops, tipping buckets, water cannons and various sprinklers in a parkland setting. The smaller sprinklers, both at ground level and those elevated by up to a metre, seemed to be the main attraction here. There was good separation of these relatively gentle, playful features from the more ferocious tipping buckets, which allowed kids of different ages to gravitate towards different parts of the splash pad. Above: A tipping bucket in action at Sebastopol Aquatic Playspace in Ballarat (Order this image)

To operate the water features, there is a button on a waist high orange pole on the edge of the water play area, which gives you 15 minutes of water play before you will need to press the button again. The splash pad is concrete under foot, with a wonderfully spongey artificial grass border that is a pleasure to walk on in bare feet. Apart from the water features, my kids enjoyed dipping their feet in the smaller sprinklers, and then leaving a trail of wet footprints on the dry concrete nearby. On a hot day they can do this endlessly, as the footprints evaporate by the time they have gone back to wet their feet again. Apart from the water cannons, there were no manually operated water features.

I observed that, after the initial excitement, the water play area tended to not hold the attention of children for long periods of time, any many of them drifted off to other more challenging parts of the park after a short while. These more challenging areas include a dry playground with swings and a small climbing structure, and some exercise equipment that is probably targetted at older kids or adults, but which many younger kids were still willing to have a go at. Above: Preparing to take on the line of sprinklers and hoops at Sebastopol Aquatic Playspace in Ballarat (Order this image)

The two shade marquees provide good sun protection along the edge of the water play area, and are lined on the ground with artificial grass, so you won't necessarily need a picnic rug or mat here. The park is enclosed with a fence. The only downside with the layout was that the toilets were in the back corner of the park, with no direct path from the water play area to the toilets. The walk across the dry grass and gravel path was a bit uncomfortable in bare feet, so have some thongs or sandals on hand if you think you are going to be making regular trips here. I couldn't spot any drinking fountains so I suggest you also bring your own water. The park has well established trees and good sheltered barbecue facilities, and would be the preferred spot of the two free water play areas in Ballarat if you are planning a picnic. Before you head out, make sure to read the water safety information and check with the managing authority for any current change of conditions. The marker indicates the approximate location of the park.If the map is not zoomed in locally, as can occur with some browsers, simply click or tap on "View Larger Map" below.
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