Te Pae Whīra o Pā Harakeke Flaxmere Skate Park

Award-winning Flaxmere Park is home to one of Hastings premier skate plaza.

Spread over almost 1400m2 and featuring more than 20 skate elements. The cultural design for Te Pae Whīra was completed by mana whenua artists from the Iwi Toi Kahungunu Artists Collective. For Te Pae Whīra, the collective interpreted a design brief by Te Waka o Māramatanga Kāhui Ako Rangatahi, school children from Pā Harakeke Flaxmere, Bridge Pa, Pakipaki and Waimārama.

The land beneath Te Pae Whīra o Pā Harakeke was once the point where the braided river Ngaruoro Mokotuararo ki Rangatira formed a singular channel as it flowed across the Heretaunga plains to the sea. The harakeke that thrived along its banks inspired the two names that area is known by: Pā Harakeke and Flaxmere.

Throughout the 1800s flooding shifted the course of the rivers across this area, leaving behind the shingle plain on which Flaxmere was built. The whakapapa genealogy of this natural changes is reflected in the design of the surfaces and structures of Te Pae Whīra, while the landscaping pays homage to harakeke.

Three designs are interwoven on the paving, representing a whāriki woven mat:

• Pātiki Flounder symbolises manaakitanga, abundance and hospitality, welcoming people into the space.

• Kaokao Chevron represents interlocked arms, welcoming manuhiri visitors with its haka stance serving as a cautionary sign.

• Takitoru links back to the way traditional sails were woven in a takitahi pattern, representing open communication.

The waharoa and poupou gateway is inspired by a strand of harakeke. The simplistic and overstated design of the waharoa and poupou is a contemporary approach to a traditional gateway. The corten steel, which will weather to a rust-like colour, adds to the industrial feel of the skate plaza, while the back-lit panels bring vibrancy and colour. The waharoa and poupou both incorporate designs of a kaitiaki using the Pitau-a-Manaia kōwhaiwhai form, while the swirling pattern represent the currents of the Ngaruroro and the healing winds of the Heretaunga plains. The incorporation of skate elements celebrates the use of the site today.

The ramp walls reflect the Mangokoru kōwhaiwhai blasted into the concrete ramp walls. Mangokoru is a design specific to Kahungunu, developed by artists of the Iwi Toi Kahungunu collective. Incorporating the Mangokoru within Te Pae Whīra celebrates our local Kahungunu identity. The three oxidized concrete colours on the skateable areas represent the three strands of the Ngaruroro.

Skate elements include:

• Flow bowl with roll-in quarter pipe, Hips, taco pocket and vert extension

• Small flow bowl with roll-in, pump bump, volcano and rising quarter pipe

• Mini-ramp with spine ramp and extending quarte pipe to wall-ride

• Quarter pipes of various heights

• Standard ledges of various heights

• Quarter pipe hips of various heights

• Pole jam

• Wedge

• Pump bump round rail

• Corner pyramid with skate kerb

• Pyramid with square rail

• Euro gap pyramid

• Long ramp round rail

• Across and down round rail

• Two block gap

• Rectangle rail over gap

• Standard round rail

• Weathered steel wollie ledge

• Hubba ledges

• Ramp to round rail

• Handrail

• Wallrides

• Garden gap

• Rollover

• Hippy jumps

• Stage/manual pad

• Hippy jumps

• Stage/manual pad

• Skateable grandstand seatingIt also has sports fields, marked for rugby in the winter and cricket in the summer, a large number of mature shade-giving trees, and a pond.

The fenced playground includes swings, climbing frames, slides, a gyroscope and splash pad. There are also picnic tables and a free-to-use community barbecue.

The park has adult exercise equipment placed along a walking and cycling track around the park, ki-o-rahi field and nine-hole disc golf circuit.