Fairway Reserve Childrens Playground

Fairway Reserve tucks a neighbourhood playground in behind the houses of Fairway Drive in Shirley, Christchurch, with a monkey bar and rope climbing circuit as its main draw and a big open lawn beside it for a kickabout. The play area is set into bark and tussock planting on the Fairway Drive side, so it is easy to drive past without noticing.

Equipment

The council register records two generations of gear. The oldest pieces, dated to 2001, are a three bay swing set with one toddler seat, a double slide off a platform, a Supa Nova balance roundabout and three spring rockers: a bike, a push-me-pull-me seat and a skateboard.¹ A climbing circuit followed at the end of 2010, with monkey bars, a rope climbing structure, three climbing walls and linked platforms.¹ On the ground it is a ring of grey posts and blue overhead rails with hanging rings, a rope traverse and timber decks to rest on between sections.

The springs, toddler swing and slide suit under-fives, while the circuit is for confident school-age climbers. One reviewer found the bars too high for smaller kids to reach.

Practical Info

Surfacing is bark chip throughout, and a reviewer flagged that it had not been spread evenly, leaving trip hazards. Shade is thin for now: no sails, and the planting around the play area is low tussock, flax and cabbage trees. That should change, as a 2024 tree planting plan approved by the community board adds about 95 trees to the 64 already in the reserve, taking canopy cover from roughly 10% to roughly 46% as they mature over 20 to 30 years.²

A picnic table sits on the bark among the tussocks, and reviewers mention a basketball half court and a soccer goal on the field. Houses back onto the reserve on three sides, which gives it the closed-in feel one visitor liked, but the play area faces the Fairway Drive frontage and the photos show no fence around it. Parking is on the street, and we found no toilets in the council data or photos.

For a second stop, Pagoda Playground is about 500 m away and Sanctuary Gardens Reserve about 700 m.