Hello to Waitawa Park
From Auckland Council
First chance to see wonderful Waitawa
Auckland’s newest regional park opens to the public this weekend with two days of exciting activities and opportunities to explore.Mayor Len Brown, iwi representatives and special guests attended a special opening ceremony on the park on Friday 7 March. Councillor Christine Fletcher, chair of council’s Parks, Recreation and Sport Committee welcomed the new park into the council’s network of parks.
“This park is unique in its dedication to recreational opportunities, but not at the expense of conservation and other important park values,” she said.
Regional and specialist parks manager Mace Ward says this is the first time people have been able to visit the whole park, and see the new developments, since it was purchased in 2004.
“Limited access over the last few years has whetted people’s appetites, but this is the very first time that people have been able to come through the gates and explore (almost) every inch of this 188 hectare recreational paradise,’ he says. “It is also fitting that we hold this opening during Parks Week.”
Unlike other regional parks that are largely focussed on passive recreation or conservation, Waitawa was purchased and developed as a place for Aucklanders to play.
“’Exploding Legs’, ‘Sheep Happens’ and ‘Pancake’ are just three of the creatively named mountain bike trails on the new park. Visitors can also horse ride, walk for miles or paddle in by kayak,” says Mr Ward.
The open weekend will showcase mountain biking, disc golf and exploring the park on foot. There will be pony rides, kite flying and food stalls. A shuttle service will drop visitors at key stops. Gates will be open from 8.30am – 6pm on both days.
We anticipate a busy first weekend and ask that visitors don’t bring large sporting items (like kayaks and fishing rods), horses, dogs and chilly bins, to avoid congestion on the shuttle, at car parks and on the roads.
Waitawa is the first regional park to be opened by the Auckland Council. It was purchased nine years ago by the Auckland Regional Council and, until 2013, was leased by the previous owner.
—Ends—
Some accompanying photos
Talking Southern Auckland 
Unfortunately for us when we got there Saturday at 4.20pm we were greeted with this from one of the park rangers “Have you come to explore the park? Well you’re too late ha ha ha ha ha!”. We politely pointed out that it said open till 6 on the website and she said that the carpark is open till 6 but that we couldn’t leave the carpark as the buses had stopped running and the paths weren’t open. She then criticized us for coming late in the day and said that we were stupid for wasting our own time driving to the park. When we explained that we have a young baby and left after her afternoon nap she said “Blah blah blah I’ve heard it all before!” while walking away from us in the middle of the conversation. Needless to say we decided not to go and sit in the carpark and went onto Kawakawa Bay instead. It seems like they really weren’t ready to open and the staff who were there weren’t the best choice for ambassadors of what should end up being a fantastic park. Hopefully we can go back soon when the park is actually open and ready for visitors so that we can explore ourselves without unadvertised time constraints, rude staff and ridiculous bus shuttles.
The Park is about 20mins south east of Clevedon on the Clevedon-Kawakawa Road
Do you mean north east Ben?
Most likely North-East – especially if I had rotated the map and forgot where north was.