Hampden Beach Playground

The playground at Hampden Beach Reserve is small, but it carries a nod to its famous neighbour: concrete lookalikes of the Moeraki Boulders, perfectly round and sized for scrambling, on the grass a few steps from the sand.¹ The real boulders are about 3 km south along the same beach, a good low-tide walk from this Hampden playground.¹

Equipment

Keep expectations modest. An A-frame swing set with two seats stands on a pad of black rubber matting, and three half-buried concrete boulders sit on the lawn beside it for climbing, jumping off and hide-and-seek. That is all our photos show, so plan on a quick stop for under-tens rather than a half-day outing; one reviewer still reckons it is a mistake to blink and drive past. The beach does the rest: driftwood litters the sand, and one of our photos shows a driftwood hut someone has built there.

Practical Info

The council lists toilets, picnic tables and seating, shade areas and a nature area at the reserve,² and a picnic table on a concrete pad looks straight out to sea. Nothing is fenced. The play area opens onto dune grass and the beach on one side and the road on the other, and it is an exposed coastal spot, so bring a layer and keep little ones close. Tennis courts and a sports ground sit just inland.

Turn east off State Highway 1 at Lincoln Street or Derby Street to find it.¹ Back on the highway, Hampden has a cafe, a fish and chip shop and a hotel restaurant,¹ which makes this a natural lunch break between Oamaru and Palmerston. Keep an eye on the surf: Hector's dolphins sometimes show up, though less often when the sea is calm.¹ Hampden School is under a kilometre away; the council notes some schools open their playgrounds to the public, so check the signage first.³