Spencer Park Adventure Playground

Spencer Park Adventure Playground anchors a 70 hectare coastal reserve at Brooklands, on Christchurch's north east edge, with enough climbing terrain, sand and water play to fill a full day near the beach, well suited to a broad range of ages thanks to its size and variety.

Equipment

Climbing equipment, swings, a spring toy, a carousel, a rocktopus, an embankment slide, a tubular slide, a rocking bowl and a surf balance board sit across the bark surfaced play area, alongside a dedicated accessibility swing and a flying fox. A large sandpit with a digger and a paddling pool sit close by, along with a half basketball court; the playground is among the larger sites on the council's register at roughly 1440 square metres.

Access and Inclusion

The accessibility swing gives wheelchair users and children who need extra support a way onto the equipment alongside everyone else. Gazebos with picnic tables a short distance away provide relief from the sun, even though the play equipment itself has no direct tree cover. Google's visitor data shows the park busiest around the middle of the day, particularly late morning through early afternoon, across most of the week.

History and Cultural

The reserve sits within Brooklands, a suburb built on former swampland that was almost entirely zoned red after the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, with the Crown buying out and demolishing nearly all its homes. In September 2020 the Government handed 70 hectares of this red zone land to Christchurch City Council, opening the door to a co-governance model for mana whenua and the community. Brooklands Lagoon, just north of the playground, is an important wetland with more than 112 recorded bird species, reached by the Spencer Park Wetland Walk and the Brooklands Lagoon Walk.

Practical Info

Address: 105/115 Heyders Road, Brooklands, Christchurch 8083, with off street parking. Open 8am to 9pm during daylight saving and 8am to 7pm the rest of the year. Public toilets, a drinking fountain, barbecue, picnic tables and tennis courts are on site, and it is a rubbish free, smokefree park. Dogs must be leashed and are barred from the dunes and foreshore.