Family Friendly Outing: Mt Lees Reserve

FAMILY FRIENDLY OUTING MT LEES RESERVE

By Sarah Taylor

Mt Lees reserve can be found at 199 Ngaio Road, roughly 25 minutes from Palmerston North and just 10 minutes from Feilding. It is open to the public 7 days a week from 9am to 5pm and is currently undergoing a major redevelopment/ upgrade making it an amazing place to take the family. There is plenty of parking available on the gravel just through the entrance, with picnic tables and a toilet block right next to the carpark. From here you can wander along the driveway past the old homestead to the newly constructed adventure area. The adventure area is amazing, constructed from tree stumps, logs, and tyres it provides plenty of opportunity for balancing, jumping, and climbing. Our 3.5 year old is able to make his way around the area independently, while our 2 year old needs the occasional boost to get up onto the logs. There is currently an old wooden swing, and the framing for a new swing was being installed while we were there. You also have the option of walking on the tracks through the reserve, with the loop track being 2.3km long. While I have seen families complete this with a pram in tow, I wouldn’t recommend it especially now with mud and tree roots making the track a little difficult to navigate in some spots. If you don’t feel like doing the whole loop walk with kids in tow, there are plenty of little paths you can adventure down with bench seats spotted all through the reserve to rest little legs and for snack stops. Highlight of the loop walk for us was the “bamboo forest” right near the end of the loop walk and just before the uphill section - this was great motivation for the kids to keep going. If you visit Mt Lees currently and have children who like dogs and machinery you might be lucky enough to meet Bark Ranger Repo and the council workers who are busy with the reserve upgrades. These guys have been super friendly every time we visit, happy to chat to the children and show them how the diggers work. Repo is a very friendly, wellbehaved dog (but it is worth noting that other dogs are not allowed at Mt Lees).