Queens Park

The flying fox is the reason to stop at Queens Park: a long run between two tall timber A-frames that launches off a grassy mound and rides over a bark strip lined with half-buried tyres. It is one of six council playgrounds in Mataura, the Southland town 13 km south west of Gore on State Highway 1, and the park's address is on Pioneer Highway.¹²

Equipment

Next to the flying fox, the main bark-covered play area has a tall red slide reached by a long ladder, a spinning carousel with hanging seats, a seesaw and a zebra-striped log ride with handgrips. One Google reviewer says the council keeps the park in pretty good shape but suggests watching younger kids on the taller pieces, the slide in particular. The flying fox and slide suit confident school-age kids; under-fives will manage the carousel and seesaw with a grown-up close by. We saw no separate toddler area.

Practical Info

The council sign at the entrance shows toilets, including an accessible one, and marks the park as dog-free and smokefree. A reviewer who used it as a toilet stop warns there is cold water only, with no soap or hand drying, so pack wipes. The play area sits on open lawn with no fence of its own, ringed by mature trees.

For more variety, Tulloch Park is under a kilometre north east and gained a splash pad, a basketball court and new public toilets as part of more than $1 million of council investment.³ Kana Street South Playground, another council play space, is about 500 m away.