Avon Park Playground

Avon Park playground is built around an inground carousel, a flush mounted spinning disc that riders of any height, including wheelchair users and children in prams, can get onto directly from the surrounding surface. It sits on the upper terrace of the Otakaro Avon River Corridor in Avonside, Christchurch, and is one of the newest and most significant play spaces to open in the city in recent years.

Equipment

Alongside the inground carousel, a climbing net structure and a solo spinner add challenge for older children, and balance logs give younger ones a lower threshold option. The play area covers approximately 1,152 square metres surfaced in bark, one of the largest bark surfaced play zones in the eastern suburbs. A large swing, a half basketball court and a pump track were still to come as forthcoming installations at last check.

Access and inclusion

The inground carousel sits flush with the surrounding surface, making it genuinely accessible to wheelchair users and children in prams. The flat approach from the Otakaro Avon River Trail is stroller and wheelchair friendly, and the trail runs directly through the park, connecting it to the City to Sea Pathway between the central city and the coast.

History and cultural

The park occupies land that was part of Christchurch's residential red zone, cleared after the 2010 and 2011 earthquake sequence. It opened in late 2024 as part of the Otakaro Avon River Corridor project, one of the largest urban regeneration initiatives in New Zealand, which is turning around 600 hectares of former residential land into a linear green space connecting the central city to the estuary. Avon Park sits within the Avonside section of that corridor, next to native plantings and a developing wetland on the lower terrace.

Practical info

On street parking is available on Mabel Howard Place. No public toilets are on site currently, with facilities planned for a later phase of the development. The Otakaro Avon River Trail gives direct cycle and walking access from the central city.