Park makes South Pacific top 25 list

BEAUTY: Winter flowering helps Queen Elizabeth Park look its best all year round.PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Masterton's Queen Elizabeth Park has been voted one of the best in the South Pacific by a leading travel service.

TripAdvisor has identified the best 25 parks throughout the South Pacific and Masterton's park has made it to the list, albeit in 25th place.

To do so, Queen Elizabeth Park had to compete with parks and botanical gardens in much larger centres, mainly in Australia but also in the islands.

In its 2014 Travellers Choice Awards, TripAdvisor has described Queen Elizabeth Park as being a "quiet, peaceful and well tended park with beautiful roses".

The inclusion of the park in the top 25 was based to some degree on reviews from visitors. From 41 reviews quoted by TripAdvisor, 21 rated the park as " excellent", 19 as " very good" and one as " average".

The remaining two categories were "poor" and "terrible" and Queen Elizabeth Park had a nil return on both.

The naming of the park in the top 25 has delighted district Councillor Gary Caffell, who has responsibility for it as chairman of the parks and open spaces task group.

Mr Caffell said it was a tribute to work done "way back" and a lot of the credit had to go to people such as the late Colin Pugh.

"The challenge for us now is to make sure we keep improving the park as a place for families to enjoy," he said.

He said the imminent cutting down of some mature trees and the maintenance to be done on many others was all part of a park improvement programme, as were discussions now being held on ways to improve the park island.

Other proposals included much better signs for the park, ways to enhance the rose arbours and refurbishment of the park grandstand.

The top park on the TripAdvisor list was Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth, Western Australia with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, Victoria, being runner-up.

The full list of the top 25 is:

Kings Park and Botanic Garden, Perth 1; Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne 2; South Bank Parklands, Brisbane 3; Roma St Parkland, Brisbane 4; Cornwall Park, Auckland 5; Pukekura Park, New Plymouth 6; Lake Pertobe, Warrnambool, Australia, 7; Paronella Park, Mena Creek, Australia, 8; Werribee Park, Victoria, Australia 9; Auckland Domain, 10; Botanic Gardens, Adelaide, Australia, 11; Hagley Park, Christchurch 12; Pollard Park, Blenheim 13; Pukeiti Rhondodendron Park, New Plymouth 14; Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia 15; Centennial Park, Sydney 16; City Park, Launceston, Tasmania 17; Kowhai Park, Wanganui 18; Nielsen Park,Sydney 19; Queens Park, Ipswich, Australia 20; Rockhampton Botanic Gardens and Zoo, Queensland, Australia 21; Hyde Park, Sydney 22; Hyde Park, Perth 23; American Memorial Park, Mariana Islands 24; Queen Elizabeth Park, Masterton 25.