Shakespear Regional Park is an Auckland Council regional park at the end of Whangaparaoa Road in Army Bay, Rodney, on the northern tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, and it holds a 4.8 Google rating. A good regional park is usually a working farm as much as a reserve, so expect to share the paddocks with grazing sheep and cattle, and leave gates exactly as you find them. Many coastal parks are also fenced wildlife sanctuaries, which is why staying on marked tracks matters: the native birds inside the fence line have few defences of their own. Weather on the gulf turns quickly, so layers and sun protection earn their place in the bag, and in summer the carparks and campground spaces fill early, so regulars arrive mid-morning at the latest. At the sea end of the peninsula, Shakespear gives Army Bay and the wider Rodney district a wild coastal escape that still sits within easy reach of Auckland.