Warburton Water World — Attraction in Melbourne

Suggested name change: "Warburton Junior Splash Park"

This "Splash Park" is an amazing spot for young children (3 to maybe 10 or 11 yrs). It's a great, safe way for the kids to get wet on hot days. This place has been designed to be safe for younger children so older children will likely find this spot a little basic or boring as open areas for ball games quickly becomes limited due to lots of young families.

The 'water slide' is small and at a shallow angle so as to be safe for younger kids however, ⚠️The rubber matting on either side of the slide gets extremely slippery when wet.⚠️ It appears that this slippery area is supposed to be where the children are meant to climb back to the top of the slide but... during our visit, brave children had more fun using these areas as a second or third sliding area (It DID look like loads of fun tbh). ⚠️Knee or belly sliding children in these areas may cause minor skin burns to the children involved or could potentially cause collisions with any children attempting to use the slide or climb back to the top within these areas. ⚠️

The very regular "Dunk bucket" is small when compared to those at larger parks but is perfect for young children or even for nervous children who want to slowly/ bravely work up the courage to take the full dunk.

The park advertises that the water is uv sterilised therefore no chlorine but, there is an unmistakeable odour of... 'pool water' at the park. It is subtle. You don't feel like you're sitting next to a public swimming pool but.. it's definitely there.

The "Dry" play equipment is also of great quality. The junior equipment (in our Miss 6's humble opinion) is suitable... "💁‍♀️for kinder kids up to about grade 3" (this area also includes a small sandpit) whilst the older equipment is... "💁‍♀️like a mix between the middle school and senior school equipment" at primary school.

There is a "toilet block" with 5 or 6 unisex toilets of reasonable to good quality and it appears to be regularly maintained. It is clean and functional. This building also has fresh water showers outside (on the side of the building) for rinsing park swimming water from the children at the end of the day. There are a few park benches and a couple of BBQ's available.

There is (at the time of our visit) a "foodtruck" parked at the caravan park immediately next to the water play reserve. Coffee and milkshakes were good. Hot food was also excellent. They serve cold drinks and icecream here as well. Pricing is about what can be expected from a food truck (e.g. $2.50 for a can of coke and $10 for a large bag of hot chips is about right for foodtruck prices in our opinion). Cash and card payments accepted.

"Parking", at the moment (DEC 2021), is the only negative that we could find about this reserve. The 'carpark' is currently under construction so be prepared to walk in order to get to and from the park. Ample free parking is available behind the local community centre which is immediately before the bridge approx. 400 metres before arriving at the park. Whilst we were there, we noticed more than a few people attempting to use the adjoining caravan park entrance as an area for pick-up or drop off. 📍As this created obvious 'difficulties' for paying caravan park users, it is easy to see why management for that separate entity requests that their driveway not be used for water park pick up/ drop off purposes.📍

"Walking from the free carpark", go back up to and cross over the bridge. There will then be a path that will lead under the bridge and allow you to cross (under) the main road. Once crossed, you have the option of walking through the caravan park or continuing along the side of the main road to reach the park. It only took a couple of minutes to walk and, even at the end of a long day of playing, Miss 6 and Mr 4 didn't complain about the walk even once on the way back.

Overall, our playground loving family loved this spot and can easily recommended...

🚗 1hr 15mins from Melb CBD but parking is limited. 💦 Small dry and water park, highlight is water bucket and mini slide. 🏞️ BYO flaoties to glide in the river stream 🚽5 Toilets, 2 BBQ, picnic benches 🌳Big tree for shade to sit under NOT ENOUGH PARKING SPOTS!!!

If you love mountain views and water, you gotta check out Warburton water park, just an hour and 15 min drive from Melbourne. It is absolutely FREE. My kids are a little older so they found the mini water slide super duper fun. It's not a huge park but it's a combined water and dry park. The falling water bucket was a crowd pleaser for all ages.

There's are 2 under cover BBQs, 5 toilets, and huge tree to sit under. You're not allowed do charcoal BBQs so we just brought our own portable stove and made burgers. There's also a small field to kick a ball.

Just a couple of minutes walk, you'll find the river where you can do river tubing. This would be a great activity for bigger kids and adults. Bring your floaties and glide away in the river stream. The river water is extremely cold so choose a really hot 35 degree day!

Parking is quite limited. You can do a drop off at the park then find parking about 400mts away. If you're lucky you might bump into some food caravans selling hot donuts, ice creams, coffee and fruit bowls!

Downside is not...

Initial impression was small, and my 2 almost teenagers were hesitated... But, they had great fun... Nearby Yarra River (1 min away) was also a highlight. Bring your swimming ring to float down the River or just simply dip in the cool and clean river. Refreshing on a 38⁰ day. Beautiful place to visit. Carpark gets full really quickly on a busy day but road side parking also fine. I parked about 2 mins walk down the road not knowing I parked under shade (absolutely delighted when picking up my car). There are plenty sitting areas, under the shade of the trees are the best. BBQ also available. Toilets and outdoor shower available and one water fountain. There is a coffee van (cashless ok) till 2.30pm and the potato food truck (cash only on the day, not sure if it's always like that) opens after 2.30pm. Kids favourite icecream truck drops in as well. We will try nearby river...