Grant Reserve

Grant Reserve is a coastal park in Coogee, directly south of Coogee Beach and beyond the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club. It combines open grass, native planting and ocean views with practical facilities including toilets, disabled toilets, picnic tables, BBQs, shade structures, park seating, a drinking fountain and a scenic lookout. Street parking is available nearby, although the council identifies the Coastal Walkway as the best way to reach the reserve on foot.

Families are well catered for by the Stan Windon Memorial Playground, also known as the Grant Reserve Playground. Its design takes the form of an abstract ship moored to a jetty, with decks, pylons, moorings, climbing ropes and a 7.5-metre-high space net representing the mast. The playground is popular with local residents and beach visitors, while its fenced layout and nearby shade structure add useful features for a day out with children.

The reserve has a more spacious, relaxed character further south. A rotunda and grassed amphitheatre create a setting for live performances, while the large open oval is suited to picnics, exercise, kite flying and ball games. Banks of planting separate a series of recreational spaces, with Norfolk Island pines, banksias, melaleucas and coastal heath species giving the park a distinctly coastal landscape rather than a single uninterrupted lawn.

Walkers and joggers can follow the Coastal Walkway through the reserve, with the route continuing along the coastline from Bondi to Maroubra. Grant Reserve also provides access to the nearby McIvers Baths, reserved for women and children, and Wylie's Baths, two historic ocean pools beside the park. BBQs in the Randwick local government area operate from 8am to 8pm daily. A permanent alcohol ban applies, dogs are prohibited within 10 metres of the playground, and camping, fires and golf practice are not permitted.