Giveaways
AS I published this post, Auckland, New Zealand, possessed 29 regional parks that the public can freely visit.
But a new regional park is about to open at 81 Kyle Road in the North Shore suburb of Greenhithe. This will bring the total to 30.
The park at 81 Kyle Road is 5.63 hectares, or nearly 14 acres, in area. It includes a small lake, with the land around it planted in trees sourced from lands that used to belong to the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana.
The park is the gift of Rosemary Platt, the widow of a famous nurseryman named Graeme Platt. You can read more about its history in a March 2025 New Zealand Herald story called ‘Auckland’s new regional park in Greenhithe a $10 million gift with huge collection of kauri trees.’
Fifty years ago, the area was rural. As Auckland expanded, the Platts’ farm came to be surrounded by suburbia. And as the trees grew, it became a private park, the grassy bits grazed by heritage breeds of sheep with quirky features like curly horns and cute little black-and-white lambs.
My friend Chris drove through the open gate and down the driveway, only to be told by an amiable worker that the park still needed a few finishing touches and additions, such as public toilets, before it could be opened to the public. In deference to that fact, Chris filmed it, but only from the road.
Auckland’s regional parks are a legacy of a generation of post-World War II conservationists such as Jim Holdaway and Judge Arnold Turner, who saw that a booming Auckland metropolis would need these green lungs conserved.
The parks they championed were called regional parks because, at the time, Auckland municipal government was divided into some two dozen local authorities. An agency called the Auckland Regional Authority was charged with developing the parks and other regional projects. These days, Auckland municipal government and regional government have been merged into one, but the distinction between regional and municipal parks remains.
The regional parks of Auckland are shown as red circles with yellow centres in the map above, which also shows ferry routes. From the top of the map downward, approximately, the 29 currently open public parks are:
+ Glenfern Sanctuary Regional Parkland (on Aotea / Great Barrier Island)
+ Pākiri Regional Park (near Leigh)
+ Ātiu Creek Regional Park (southwest of Wellsford)
+ Tāwharanui Regional Park (east of Warkworth)
+ Scandrett Regional Park (south-east of Warkworth)
+ Te Rau Pūriri Regional Park (on the South Head of the Kaipara Harbour, the harbour which is fed by the Whakaki River)
+ Mahurangi Regional Park (south of Warkworth)
+ Shakespear Regional Park (at the tip of the long, thin Whangaparaoa peninsula)
+ Muriwai Regional Park (on the west coast)
+ Whakanewha Regional Park (on Waiheke Island)
+ Motukorea Browns Island Regional Park
+ Auckland Botanic Gardens (in the city)
+ Waitākere Ranges Regional Park, including Anawhata, Arataki Visitor Centre, Cascade Kauri, Cornwallis, Huia, Karekare, Piha, Te Henga / Bethells, and Whatipū Scientific Reserve
+ Mutukaroa, Hamlins Hill Regional Park (in the city)
+ Ambury Regional Park (in the city)
+ Ōrere Point Regional Park (the smallest of Auckland’s regional parks)
+ Āwhitu Regional Park (on the Āwhitu Peninsula, which forms the south head of Manukau Harbour, south of Auckland city)
Te Ārai, at the top, is the subject of this video, filmed by Chris a few years ago.
And here is another, filmed at Te Hāwere-a-Maki / Goat Island, a New Zealand Department of Conservation marine reserve just to the east of Pākiri Regional Park.
Both of those videos come from an earlier post of mine called ‘Travelling North from Auckland,’ as does the following photo of a surfer at Te Ārai.
Of course, the regional parks in the south and west are pretty good as well!
Auckland’s regional park network has been continually added to since the time of its founders, who would probably have been impressed to see that we now have twenty-nine, soon to be thirty.
Here is the Auckland Council page for all the regional parks: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/parks-recreation/Pages/search-index.aspx.
(This post replaces the one about Kahurangi National Park, west of Nelson, advertised at the end of last week’s post. I will resume my Nelson ramblings next week!)
If you liked this post, check out my award-winning book about the North Island, available from my website a-maverick.com.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive free giveaways!
