Town Basin

The Town Basin is home to many art and craft galleries - featuring beautiful works by Whangārei, Northland and New Zealand artists.  

Don't miss the chance to watch the glass blowers in the Burning Issues Gallery workshop. The expert glass workers produce exquisite pieces of art work for the local, national and international markets.

An Artisan Fair runs frequently through the summer months next to Reyburn House, where you can enjoy a vibrant gathering of artists, buskers and food stalls.

An award-winning jeweller has also established a workshop at the Town Basin, and a co-operative of local artists display their work at 'The Bach'.

You can book various areas for a festival, concert or music event, carnival or circus, market, fun run / walk, awareness / fundraising event. 

These areas are at the Town Basin, certain parks and reserves, and carparks.

Book the Town Basin, a District park or a carpark

You can entertain in the Whangārei Central Business District for one hour a day, three days a week with no speaker or amplifier, without a permit.  

If you would like to entertain for more hours or days and would like to have a speaker or amplifier, you need to apply for a permit.

A permit is also required to carry out other activities in these areas.

Apply for a buskers permit

A map of the Central Business District and Town Basin areas can be viewed on the above page.

You are welcome to walk your bike through the Central Business District but you are not permitted to ride your bike or scooter or use your skateboard or roller skates in certain areas.

Public Places Bylaw

Rules relating to busking and other activities in the Central Business District or Town Basin can be found in Clause 32 of the bylaw.

Rules permitting riding of bikes and scooters in the Central Business District can be found in Clause 33 of the bylaw.  

Public Places Bylaw

The popular playground has had a major makeover and now has lots of new exciting play equipment.

The popular climbing spiderweb frame remains and is joined by a two-storey slide tower, in-ground trampolines, a climbing circuit, new swings and lots more!

To make it safer for children, a raised mound with fencing has been built between the playground and the carpark and the adjoining part of the Hātea Loop has been moved away from the river.

A barbeque is also available for public use, and a petanque area adds the to range of facilities for people of all ages.

Pūtahi Park opened in March 2022. It provides an important link between Whangārei’s waterfront, the Huarahi o te Whai Hātea Loop Walkway and the central city area.

The park includes play areas for children, buried water-jets, a "great lawn" for events, artistic features and more. 

Pūtahi Park

Claphams National Clock Museum has the largest collection of timepieces in the Southern Hemisphere, with a collection of clocks, that can be rare and exquisite, or quirky and fun.

There are many other gadgets that will surprise and delight both you and your children.

Claphams National Clock Museum

Free to visit, Whangārei Art Museum is Northland’s public art gallery, open 10:00am to 4:00pm, 7 days .

Whangārei Art Museum connects Northland with the world of art, presenting local, national and international voices with powerful and provocative exhibitions.

It is also the permanent home of the city’s art collection, which embraces both heritage and contemporary artworks.

Whangārei Art Museum

Reyburn House is a New Zealand Historic Places Trust Category 2 listed, and Whangārei’s oldest, colonial building. It sits along the waterfront and now operates as an art gallery, and is home to the Northland Society of Arts.

Built in 1870s, the building has been lovingly preserved and is surrounded by landscaped gardens adjacent to the Town Basin playground.

Reyburn House Art Gallery

The 'About Time Project' presents the Rolling Ball Clock, unveiled on Thursday 7 April 2022 after more than 10 years of development.

This unique kinetic sculpture is a cultural project anchored in the community, demonstrating balance, equilibrium, movement, gears, wheels and chains. It also tells the time! 

The Rolling Ball clock operates between 9:00am and 9:00pm daily, and is intentionally turned off outside of these times.

Opened in early 2022, Hundertwasser Art Centre is a unique landmark on the Hātea loop in Whangārei.

The iconic building presents Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s artistic legacy from 1973 - 2000, highlighting his time in New Zealand.

Visitors will also discover Wairau Māori Art Gallery and Aqua Restaurant & Bar, a theatre, afforested roof, and a 'MuseumShop' with unique products.

Hundertwasser Art Centre website

Hātea Loop walkway

The entire loop circles the Hātea River, and is accessible for walking, jogging, pushbikes, mobility aids, scooters and push-chairs.

The walkway connects the Town Basin, the Te Matau ā Pohe and Kotuitui Whitinga bridges, parks, playgrounds, galleries, and a heritage and sculpture trail. 

Hātea Loop walkway

Heritage and sculpture trail

An area alongside the water-front has been landscaped and enhanced to form a Heritage Trail and Art Walk with a number of sculptures commissioned from local artists.

Town Basin heritage and sculpture trail 

Hātea river bridges

From the Heritage and Sculpture trail, the walkway now extends across this elegant new footbridge, Kotuitui Whitinga, which spans the Waiarohia Stream.

The bridge completed the Hātea Loop walkway, Huarahi o te Whai (The walk of health).

The walkway adjacent to Port Road then leads on to the international award-winning Te Matau ā Pohe bascule (opening) bridge.

The bridge, open to cars, cyclists and pedestrians, spans the Hātea River and takes you across to Pohe Island.

Hātea River Bridges

Hātea River walkway

Follow the path of the beautiful Hātea River from the Town Basin to the impressive Whangārei Falls via Mair Park.

To find out more about the walkway, please follow the link below.  

Hātea River walkway

The work at the Town Basin has provided the perfect opportunity for the late Clive Williams’ artwork Stand Together to be restored by Kim Groeneveld and reinstalled by Robinsons’ contractors at one of the District’s busiest hubs.

Stand Together is 16 timber panels, the same height, arranged in a V form. It is both simple and complex.

Thirty-two sides of the vertical panels are painted in red, white and black, to represent Māori iwi, while the other sides are painted in the “colours of the land”.

Moving around the work a carved double spiral or koru is revealed, symbolising new life and the unfurling of the power of growth and potential.

The work’s message is that separate elements have little meaning, unless we ‘stand together’. The artist gifted the work to the city in 1981 and it held a prime position outside Forum North for many years.