Hinze Dam

Hinze Dam has all the key elements of a good toddler outing: playground, picnic spots, scenic walks/ bike rides PLUS some highlights you just don’t get to see every day.

Key Details

Address: 100-200 Advancetown Road, Advancetown QLD 4211 (Visitor Centre)

Google Map Directions

Time from Ormeau HQ: 41 minutes (38.2km)

Contacts: Website

Hours: Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4pm. Saturday and Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Hinze Dam is located in the Gold Coast hinterland and is the main drinking water supply for the Gold Coast. It also provides lots of things to do for Tourist and Gold Coast locals including your toddler!

Hinze Dam Visitor Centre

Perched above the lake and parklands is the Hinze Dam Visitor Centre and View Cafe. It is worth a visit just to see the architectural design of building and positioning within its natural surrounds and the dam. The Hinze Dam Visitor Centre has educational displays, a café and function centre. There is also a public toilet with baby change facilities.

Behind the Visitor Centre there is great recreational space with a circular walk where you can see the dam and Advancetown Lake from various viewpoints. There are information signs along the walk with information about the Dam and several shaded picnic shelters.

You can access the walkway over the Dam wall from out the front of the Visitor Centre.

View Cafe

The View Cafe is located with the Hinze Dam Visitor Centre. As the name suggests there are some great views of Advancetown Lake, the Dam and surrounding hinterland. Check out the photo gallery below to check out there menu or visit viewcafe.com.au for more information including opening hours.

Spillway Lookout

Located downstream of the dam wall, this lookout is a fabulous spot to view the dam when spilling but also worth a quick stop when the spillway is closed to take in the scale and complexity of the dam. There are a couple of signs providing information on the construction of the dam which Fletcher was very keen for me to read to him.

Hinze Dam Playground in Picnic Parkland

The Hinze Dam playground has the following toddler friendly features:

Ship themed main play structure with lots of things to climb, tunnels, binoculars, steering wheel, bridges and slide
Rocker
Large round nest swing
Climbing toadstool
Shade sails cover entire playground area
Soft rubber flooring across entire play space
Several sheltered spots for a picnic adjacent to the playground
Large grassed area for play and ball sports (not shaded and not fenced so be wary of the road)
Public toilets

More Things to do at Hinze Dam

Multi-use trails – walking, running, mountain biking and horse riding
Boating (electric powered)
Canoeing, kayaking and rowing
Sailing
Fishing (catch and release only)
Dog allowed on leash in designated areas

Things you can’t do at Hinze Dam

Swimming
Motorised boating
Camping

For more information on Hinze Dam and the things to do there download the Hinze Dam Recreation Guide or visit the Seqwater website.

Toddler Review

Our visit to Hinze Dam is probably one of the longer trips we have taken so far. As my two toddlers still have one midday nap I choose locations that can be done in either a morning or afternoon. This is still achievable with Hinze Dam however both children fell asleep on the trip home. Which I find a good sign for the destination we have just visited – I like things that tire them out and expend some energy!

Despite the longer drive I highly recommend taking a visit to Hinze Dam. It has a lot of key elements of a good toddler outing including playground, picnic spots and scenic toddler friendly walks. Plus it has some highlights you just don’t get to see every day. The various views of the dam (spillway lookout, walkway over dam wall and are just awesome to behold. You can wander around reading snippets of the educational signs to your toddler to help introduce them to topics like construction, history, nature and conservation.

The area is well signed once you reach the entry gates. You may want to do a drive through to get a lay of the land before choosing your first stop.

We started our trip to Hinze Dam with a quick stop to the Spillway lookout. We then moved onto the Visitor Centre and View Cafe. We stopped by the public toilets before we begun exploring the area behind the centre which is accessible via a footpath located on the far side of the centre (near the toilets).

I particularly liked the circular walkway behind the Visitor Centre. It is a great wide open space in which you can let your toddlers freely explore. I would recommend you bring along a pram if your toddler gets tired particularly if you intend to walk across the Dam wall as well. Lots of sunscreen, water bottles and hats are a must, both these walks are mostly in full sun and it gets hot! Walking over the dam wall was a little cooler as a breeze came off the water but you will be very exposed to the sun.

After taking in the sights of the Dam and burning some energy we headed back down Advancetown Road to the Hinze Dam playground in the picnic parkland. Both toddlers loved climbing the boat themed play structure so much so it was hard to get them to come down to have their picnic lunch.

It was a great morning out and I highly recommend that you take a visit to Hinze Dam with your toddler.