Google Review: Wairihi Park. Raglan.

I was walking through the backstreets of Raglan with my Starbucks girlfriend. It was late and the moon was almost full but there was enough silvery light to not get scared of the dark. We had been hotfooting it along the water, trying to keep ahead of the rain. This was after a delicious beef curry at Ulo Kitchen. Our bellies were full and our pockets significantly lighter.

We rounded a corner and saw an archway, with the words Wairihi Park, glowing in the moonlight. We crossed the threshold onto the grass and ventured deep into the mud. There was a wooden tower, with a tunnel slide that looked like the trunk of an elephant. I haven’t haunted parks in the dark since my teenage years. Do TikTok tweens still loiter in the shadows?

I couldn’t see any beneath the monkey bars. We explored deeper. There was a swing set. It was a mammoth thing. The tallest I have ever seen. This was luxury. It had two, side by side, full-size swings. None of those tiny-swings-for-toddlers. It took real effort to gain height and momentum. Starbucks girlfriend found it easier than me, probably because of her strong core from all the Lulu Lemon Yoga Classes. But I sucked in my slouching stomach and swung towards the moon. I felt like if I could just swing a bit higher, I could become luminous too. 5 Stars. Would swing again.