Best playgrounds in Ruapehu

A 5.3 metre fibreglass carrot stood on end as a climbable rocket is the kind of oddity you plan a stop around, and at Ohakune Carrot Mennesson Adventure Park it shares the ground with a pirate ship built from a real ship's lifeboat. Around those two centrepieces sits a genuine all-day spread: a BMX and bike track, a flying fox, climbing frames, swings and water play, with picnic tables, patchy shade, plenty of parking and modern toilets. In midsummer aim for late morning or after three, when the open frames have cooled off.

South of the mountain this is also the wet-weather and end-of-ski-day fallback, the place everyone lands when the cloud comes down on the crossing or the lifts shut and a carload of kids still has energy to burn. The gateway stop on the way through is Roy Turner Memorial Playground in the small Waimarino village, a practical forty-minute break with climbing frames, swings, a slide, a flying fox and picnic tables under one of the country's most dramatic volcanic backdrops.

North of the ranges, Taumarunui Domain on the town's main reserve breaks up the long SH4 run. Its play space is the most complete in the district, with a wheelchair-accessible carousel, a junior play train, natural water play, a double flying fox and a tubular-slide multi-play structure sorted into junior and senior zones, plus toilets on site.

Toilets are reliable at those two town stops and patchy in the smaller villages, so use them before pushing into the national park. Ski weeks and school holidays fill the Ohakune carparks early, so time your visit around the mountain crowd.