Jamberoo water theme park – a family review

With the summer school holidays in full swing I decided to cool the family off at Jamberoo Action Park – here is our ride-by-ride family guide!

Banjo’s Billabong

Jamberoo is a family water park, and a great fun way to spend a day!

We headed off on our hour or so drive to Jamberoo with sunny skies, but by the time we arrived it was unseasonably cold! However being die-hard family fun-seekers that we are, Brooke (9), Samantha (7) and myself voted to brave the weather and go swimming and water-sliding anyhow – and we’re very glad we did!

One of the great things about Jamberoo is that apart from buying food, you can practically put your wallet away as everything is covered in the entry price. So the first thing we did when we arrived was to hire a locker for the day for our gear ($10 locker hire). Now we could wander around the park carrying nothing at all and simply hop from one ride to another with no worries.

An imposing sight – The Funnel Web water slide

The shortest of us, Samantha, met the height minimum for all rides, and thanks to the chilly conditions there were barely any queues – so we managed to cover every ride in the whole park in just a few fun hours. Here is our ride-by-ride guide to Jamberoo…

The Bobsled – two rides in one

You need to take a chairlift up to the start of the Bobsled run. This was a bit of a worry for me as it only fit two people, and so I needed to send Brooke, my 9yo, on her own. She rode ahead of Samantha and I, with me periodically calling out to her “Just sit still! Are you okay? Keep the safety bar down!” like the embarrassing mother I am – we all made it to the top safe and sound of course, and ready for our run down the hill.

The Bobsleds were very heavy and you needed to lift it down off a rack and carry it to the track by yourself which I found quite difficult – there was no chance the kids could lift them on their own. Then we climbed aboard and set off down the mountain, which was as safe and as slow as you wanted to make it. We did find that the sleds kept stopping here and there – so you then had to push them along with your hands which was a challenge – especially as I had my 7yo on my double one. The track was very bumpy on the joins which made the ride quite uncomfortable. Maybe it was just that we had chosen the slower track, or that we were going too slow, but in any case, at the bottom we all decided that one run was enough, and we thankfully headed off to try something else.

The Taipan water slide – lots of fun

With no queues to speak of, we walked up to the Taipan water slide and could get straight on each time we rode. This ride was a lot of fun for all of us! We all sat in a big rubber ring which headed off into a dark water tunnel lit up just a little here and there, making it a bit spooky – but in a fun way! Slightly thrilling, but not too much to handle for our little crew – we rode the Taipan three times – thumbs up!

It was a big thumbs-up for the Taipan water slide!

Surf Hill – like the big slide at fun fairs – just add water!

Surf Hill was rows of fast, straight downhill slides on mats. The girls did this one alone while I watched. They said it was fun but only did it once – they wanted to move on!

Splash Out – good old-fashioned fun

These two classic twisty-turn-y blue open air water slides were fun for everyone – not scary unless you can’t swim – one little girl behind me clearly couldn’t swim when she hit the deep water at the end of the slow slide, and I raced back towards her as the life guard offered her his float which she clearly couldn’t grab – he finally jumped in to fish the poor thing out, coughing and spluttering. My kids had harmlessly swum out when finding themselves in the deep water, thank goodness. We did ride this one a few times – it was good fun.

The Rock – high-jumping thrills

The kids thought this was really fun, or at least Brooke did. Samantha and I just liked hanging out in the warm pool underneath, as by this point we were pretty cold out of the water! You could choose from three jump points – one short slide with a long drop into the water and two rock jump-offs, one higher than the other. Most older kids loved jumping off The Rock – I was happy to just watch this one, and Samantha said jumping off hurt when she hit the water, so she just did it the once (even that surprised me – she’s a brave one!). I took her down to a little kids area below The Rock where she was much happier playing with the squirting frogs, little slides, raining mushrooms and lilly-pads!

The Rock gives you three leaping choices

Outback Bay – catch a wave

Outback Bay is the first thing you see when you walk into Jamberoo – a massive hard-bottomed wave pool fringed by a sandy beach with deck chairs. There is a toddler pool to one side and a huge tv screen belting out the latest hit videos and counting down the wave sets. The waves are set off around every half hour and are a lot of fun. My girls are both good swimmers, but I needed to be with them in the waves if they were not right near the edge, as wave water depth can be very deceptive for little kids. Outback Bay is also where we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch overlooking the bay. The “Bombora Seafood” café had absolutely delicious food – don’t miss the fish and tempura prawns, plus Churros from the snack bar there too – yummy!

The Outback Bay wave pool area

Mini Golf – for something different!

Not what you’d expect in a water park, but a bit of fun on the side, just the same. All you need is a $2 deposit for your putter and ball and you’re in business. Both girls enjoyed taking a Mini Putt-Putt time out here at the end of the day.

Rapid River – not really so rapid…

Even for a mum with two young kids, this ride was pretty slow. You sat on a blow up ring and drifted around in a big circle, getting sprayed by what felt like random hoses. In the end we all jumped off the rings (it’s only around a metre deep) so we could walk it faster and get out sooner, which everyone seemed to be doing. Perhaps it’s more suited to parents pushing toddlers on the rings – or it’s more fun on a hot day when you just want some relaxing chill-out time.

Billabong Beach – fun for the under-tens

Billabong Beach  is a cute little area for kids to climb, slide and play. We practically had the place to ourselves, and it was a nice spot for me to lie on a lounge and relax whilst the kids raced around, splashed, slid and played safely.

Billabong Beach is ideal for the under-10s to have a safe splash around

Banjo’s Billabong – a big splash!

Banjo’s Billabong is like the big brother of Billabong Beach – it is another climbing structure, just bigger with longer slides coming down off of it, and an enormous bucket that fills and dunks periodically. All the kids eagerly wait for this, as it’s quite the massive splash! Lots of young-to-older kid fun to be had here.

The Funnel Web – as thrilling as it gets

The Funnel Web is clearly the big-gun ride of Jamberoo. A huge, twisty covered water slide that at one point spits it’s riders out into the most massive funnel (that spectators can watch from a viewing deck) before sucking the screaming occupants back into a tube. Unfortunately Samantha, made the height minimum so I had no excuses not to go on it, however luckily the kids suddenly had second thoughts at the top and we all scarpered back down the path and left it to the braver folks – phew! Well, maybe next time…

Even just watching the Funnel Web water slide is a little frightening!

The Jamberoo Action Park has a lot going for it – we really enjoyed our time there. If the kids are getting bored in the holidays or on those long hot Summer weekends, Jamberoo Action Park is a great family activity that will give you and the kids a fun day out!

Jamberoo Action Park is located on the South Coast of NSW, around an hour’s drive South from Sydney, two hours from Canberra and twenty minutes from Wollongong. Public transport is via train to Kiama Station then (seasonal) connection bus.
Admission is $49.99 per adult, $41.99 per child. Season passes are available for $109 online. Prices are correct at 21/01/2015.
Check the Jamberoo website here for further details.

The locals at Jamberoo were very friendly – we had a great day at Jamberoo!