Wellington's Best Playparks

I was planning to have a lazy start to the weekend this morning but having already been up for over 3 hours (and it’s still only 9am), the kids are getting restless and have come up with a grand plan for a “Playpark Tour”. Apparently we’re scheduling 84 of them in today.

Our whole family have invested a considerable amount of time at Wellington’s playparks over the last 18 months, so I thought I would put together a list of our favourites.

Wellington has 104 playparks so children are definitely very well catered for here! Most of them are pretty excellent, which makes choosing a top five list very difficult indeed and we have certainly left some good ones off this list.

But, in no particular order, here are our personal, all-time family favourites:

1.      Khandallah Park 

The flying fox here is a huge hit for our kids, as is the very long slide (which is frequently covered in bird poo, leading to very dirty bottoms and legs). The muddy stream is another drawcard and has also been responsible for many extra hours of laundry.

2.   Waitangi Park 

Also known as the “science park” in our family, on account of its water play area which allows for endless hours of “experiments”. Also, for some strange reason, every single time we go to Waitangi Park, we always bump into someone we know. The kids think it’s a guaranteed source of finding friends.

3.       Karori Park 

Mysteriously, it always turns out to be sunny when we go to Karori Park. It doesn’t matter what the weather’s like when we set out – by the time we reach Karori Park it’s cricket weather. We love this one for its 1km circuit path – it’s the best place to take bikes and scooters.

4.       Nairnville Park

A year ago Molly was stung by a bee here and it took us a wee while to get her back again as she was convinced the bee would still be sitting on the dandelion waiting for her. The long tunnel slide here is brilliant, as is the helicopter shaped climbing frame. So long as it’s not a windy day, this is an awesome spot.

5.       Frank Kitts Park

You just can’t beat ambling around Wellington waterfront on a sunny weekend, and we always end up spending a while at Frank Kitts Park. The kids can’t get enough of the big lighthouse slide, and are clever enough to have worked out that there’s always an ice cream van nearby too! 

Having finished this post, I better go and get my gear ready for our "Tour" now!