Queen Elizabeth Park

Queen Elizabeth Park sits beside the Waipoua River in the middle of Masterton and is a textbook example of a Victorian town park, with mature exotic trees, ornamental lakes, an aviary, a deer enclosure, croquet lawns, and a small steam-powered miniature railway that runs on weekends and school holidays.

The mature trees are the real reason to wander — magnificent oaks, planes and Sequoias that have had 140 years to fill out. The lakes have ducks and a population of black swans. Free to enter and open all hours, with the cafe in the old pavilion a pleasant stop on a sunny day.

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A story
The park was laid out in 1881, just thirty years after Europeans first settled the Wairarapa. The mature oaks, planes and redwoods you walk under today were planted by Henry Joll, a Cornish miner who became Masterton's first head gardener and went on to lay out parks across the lower North Island.

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