Parrs Park

Parrs Park is great for bringing together locals to play sports whether it’ll be competitive or social grade. Conditions of the grounds most the time is excellent. I run Social Rippa Rugby/​Tag (during summer) for anyone that is keen to play & Parrs Park has given me the opportunity to do exactly that. Alot of our players would bring their families along, and if they did’nt want to play there is a footpath that goes all around the entire field for those that wanted to go for a walk or light jog. There’s a playground, cricket nets, skateboarding ramp, basketball court & even artificial turf. Car park is never an issue. As ‘regulars’ to the grounds, we all contribute to making sure that the ground is well respected. Whether it’ll be to have a friendly word/​reminder to people whom we see leaving rubbish around or us picking up rubbish that we come across & binning it. These little things help give back to Parrs Park in keeping it in good spirits

I used to hang around Parrs Park as a kid and it was a really nice place to spend time in, back then. These days you see quite a lot of young punks hanging around looking dodgy, because the area around Parrs Park has kind of gone down hill, sadly. Bu if you stay away from that kind of crowd and don’t hang out there too late in the day, there’s lots of outdoor space to take your kids, take the dogs, or do some exercise. There’s a basketball court, a skate ramp, and heaps of local sports teams practice and play here on the weekends. And there is a dairy across the road too.

Because it is in a somewhat dodgy neighbourhood (only sort of) this park can get that awkward crowd on the rare occasion, that you might not want around your kids.
But on most days it is a delight. I went there plenty as a child with the neighbourhood crew and we loved it. The skate ramp is huge, and crazy dangerous for little ones that trample across it on their plastic boards. The playground is pretty impressive though, with a lot of jungle gym action, and swings and all that. The kids love it.
Oh and then there is the park. It isn’t my favourite park out west, but thats only because it is just a flat piece of land. There are no trees for scenery, the park just sits in the midst of suburbia. Which is fine for some, I am just picky.
The schools surrounding it use the park for school sports days, and the local athletics club holds a number of sporting events there. It makes for a perfect sporting spot. Less ideal for exercise or mere running though, because it is so bland. You would just feel like you are running in a big circle, because essentially that is what you would be doing.

Home ground to United Soccer Club, this wide open public park has numerous soccer fields which swell in numbers through the playing season, doubling as cricket pitches in summer. There is also a very cool kids playground which gets well utilized year round, there are basketball hoops and there is a skateboard ramp. So if you need a little outdoor physical activity head out to this West Auckland park.
As a public park, plenty of open air events happen through the year so keep your eyes peeled for the next event on the calendar.
It’s also one of my top dog walking parks with wide footpaths surrounding the fields. Lots of parking and shady trees too.