She is in her 90s and didn't quite make it to the bench that has her and grandad's name on a plaque, but shuffled just a little bit further than the carpark to steady herself on the nearest tree in her best shoes.
Even though it was strenuous for her, the look in her eyes showed the spirit of a young girl when she looked around the park and spoke of her time here over the years. I was reminded of how fun she used to be, rather than how frail she is now.
There's much to admire in the park even without a family connection. It features a collection of exotic and native tree species and has a reputation as an arboretum of national significance. Many of the trees were planted around 1866 and have grown taller than usual because they've competed against each other for height.
A Bhutan cypress in the park is likely to be one of the largest of its kind in the world and there are also giant redwoods and camphor laurel. It feels like walking in a very old wood and because the trees are so tall you feel a little like Alice in Wonderland as you walk deeper into the park.
On the day we visit, the magnolia trees have created a carpet of soft petals in every shade from light pink to magenta. There are also giant tree stumps for the kids to climb upon and we notice one has had a top put on it to create a bench.
There's a loop walk at the edge of the park with a giant felled tree for the kids to take as a short cut. If you have the energy, there's also a one-hour walk around the estuary.
Back in the main park, there's a waterfall and a stone path. It's the ultimate stick race for the kids as they throw theirs in the waterfall and follow it down and under a small bridge to the open pond.
I don't remember all of the family occasions in the park but the waterfall definitely brings back memories, and later, I find a photograph of myself as a child, standing in its rushing water. I have changed in every way possible since but it remains just as it was all those years ago apart from a few different plants around its edges.
As well as witnessing our family events and milestones, the park has its own long history.
It had auspicious beginnings when the land held a four-roomed homestead and the wharf hosted small steamers. Later, it was owned by a single woman from England, Lucy Mansel, who brought with her six nephews to help run the farm.
During Mansel's time there was dancing in the barn accompanied by a string band. Accounts tell of the hall being decorated in Chinese lanterns, ferns and evergreens. There were also church and school picnics in the grounds, before subdivision, and later a fire, destroyed the homestead and carved up the land.
In the mid-50s, part of the grounds of Yatton were turned into a public park. The ornamental waterfall and pond were built the year I was born, so I must have been taken to see it as a baby and formed an early connection.
There are other memorials in the park, such as an olive tree to mark the war in Crete, Kate Sheppard commemorative camellias for the centennial of women's suffrage, and gardens representing Tauranga's sister cities. The park is filled with history; it feels a very old place.
Our day trip down memory lane reminded us to ask relatives over the holiday season what their special place is - it's likely to be refreshingly outside the main tourist trails and worth a visit with them. Years later, when they are gone, it will be nicer to remember them being somewhere they loved in life than at their final resting place.
