Gordon Carmichael Reserve

A small, bark-surfaced playground beside the Carmichael Road car park at Gordon Carmichael Reserve has been in place since around 2011 to 2012, built more for toddlers and younger primary kids than teenagers. Shade sails cover both the equipment and the adjoining barbecue area, with public toilets close by. The reserve wrapped around the playground is a 60 hectare wetland linking Bethlehem's Mayfield subdivision to Brookfield, threaded with native planting and more than two kilometres of walkway.

Equipment

The play area centres on a multi-play structure with a slide, a basket swing and a swing set that includes an infant seat, letting toddlers join in alongside older siblings. An outdoor classroom next door is used for the council's Learning Through Discovery education programme, so school groups are a common sight here on weekdays.

Access and Inclusion

Off street parking on Carmichael Road includes dedicated mobility parking right by the playground and toilets, and a pedestrian crossing was added on Carmichael Road in 2023 specifically to make getting to the reserve safer on foot. Inside the reserve, 230 metres of native lined boardwalk carries the walkway flat and level through the wetland, part of a network stretching more than two kilometres.

History and Cultural

Tauranga City Council has been developing a cultural sculpture garden within the reserve with local hapu Ngai Tamarawaho and Ngati Hangarau, weaving mana whenua stories into what began as a stormwater engineering project. That dual identity, flood infrastructure doubling as wetland habitat and cultural space, runs through the wider grounds beyond the playground itself.