Olympic Park Walk – Te Whau Pathway Project

Estimated reading time: 2 min

Highlights

Distance	1.5km
Duration	30 minutes, easy walk
Park	Olympic Park, New Lynn
Pathway location	Section 2

Take half an hour to be enchanted by the playful and beautiful artworks of Olympic Park, often referencing the natural and historical aspects of the area. Olympic Park also has a fantastic playground and BBQ area.

Homage to Crown Lynn by Louise Purvis on the left, artwork “Junction” by Peter Nicholl on the right.

Playgrounds

There is a playground in the park, with a double space net, a sand play area for toddlers and electric barbeques. Check out this video from Playground Auckland for more details. Note that all Auckland playgrounds are closed during Covid-19 Alert Levels 3 and 4.

Directions and route map

Download printer-friendly of the Olympic Park Walk (August 2021)

Estimated reading time: 2 min
File type: Adobe Acrobat PDF
File size: 303KB

Start at the Olympic Place carpark, off Wolverton Street. Walk along the eastern side of the velodrome till you reach the northern end of the park by the rail bridge. You’ll find an impressive sculpture by Peter Nicholl, who used timber from the original bridge.

Turn right on the track towards the creek and follow the path until the art bridge designed by Steve Woodward. Turn left and cross the bridge, and at the next pathway turn left again, to follow that path up to the pou (post) sculpture by Te Kawerau a Maki artists John Collins and Sunnah Thompson. Loop around the pou to head south along the pathway towards the kids’ playground. You’ll see a metal map, showing the locations of all the artworks in the park.

Olympic Park was given that name in honour of the New Zealand athletes who competed in the 1948 Olympic Games. Previously it was known as New Lynn Domain. Olympic Park is the site of environmental restoration projects, and is a designated Avondale spider sanctuary. It was expanded to the east in the 2000s through a park development trust.

Continue on the path to the bridge, but turn left before the bridge to follow the path past the Louise Purvis sculpture of ceramics, Homage to Crown Lynn. Follow that path back towards Wolverton Street and the carpark where you began.