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A record 2.579 million visits to regional parks in Auckland were recorded for the first three months of this year, as people made the most of the fine weather to get into the outdoors.
It was the largest number of visits to parks ever recorded over the January 1 to March 31 period, Auckland Council said.
Shakespear Park recorded 223,153 visits over that period (107,199 in January, 69,405 in February and 46,549 in March) while Wenderholm accounted for 128,477 visits (62,961 in January, 41,902 in February and 23,584 in March).
Across the city, the most popular regional park was Muriwai, with 479,507 visits recorded (229,101 in January, 146,666 in February and 103,740 in March), followed by Long Bay, with 438,072 visits (188,904 in January, 151,548 in February and 97,620 in March).
“The record-breaking numbers of people visiting our regional parks show just how much Aucklanders and visitors to our city love to experience our stunning nature reserves, native bush and coastal areas,” said Cr Richard Hills, chair of council’s planning, environment and parks committee.
He praised rangers, parks teams and volunteers for making the regional parks places where Aucklanders wanted to spend time, and where birds and native wildlife can thrive.
Auckland Council owns and manages 28 regional parks across Tāmaki Makaurau from Te Ārai in the north to Hunua Ranges in the south, covering more than 40,000 hectares.
Average monthly visitor numbers are calculated using counters at park entry points, and a formula that estimates the number of passengers per car.
