Thousands flock to regional parks

Greater Wellington's Regional Outdoors Programme had another great summer, with attendance topping last year's total and many participants trying out a new regional park for the first time.

"This is a vote of confidence in the regional parks and what they provide - they're good for you, fun for the family, and taking part in the summer events is either free or very low cost," says Greater Wellington's Sustainability Committee Chair Chris Laidlaw.

Even though bad weather forced the cancellation of more events than last year, the attendance for events run by Greater Wellington or in partnership with others was 4,736, up from 4,724. Thirty percent of participants were first-time visitors to the regional park hosting the event and 98% of participants said that they intended to revisit the park. Events run by other organisations, such as the Grand Traverse through regional parks in Porirua, took overall attendance up to 15,854 (last year's total was 14,105).

Greater Wellington's Parks Marketing Manager Amanda Cox says that partnering with community groups is a winning formula. "An excellent example was the Beginners Guide to Fly Fishing, hosted by the Hutt Valley Angling Club. The club got a 15% increase in membership through their inclusion in the programme."

Amanda says that this year's programme was designed to showcase the variety of activities that can take place in our regional parks and forests. These ranged from nature walks with community environmental groups and flax weaving at Queen Elizabeth Park with the Kapiti Weaving Collective through to multisport events in Akatarawa Forest, Battle Hill and Belmont Regional Park.

Other highlights included the Maori Medicine Walk in Kaitoke Regional Park and the Mt Climie 4WD trips, where Greater Wellington staff showed participants the landscape and views sweeping from South Island and Kapiti Island to the Wairarapa.