It is the largest annual event organised by Auckland Council,[6] and gives families free access to a working farm.

[7] The park covers 85 hectares (210 acres) of low-lying volcanic land on the shores of the upper Manukau Harbour.

[8] It includes both camping coastline, grazed farming paddocks, wetlands, saltmarshes and small areas of native forest.

[9][10] Much of Ambury Regional Park formed approximately 50,000 years ago, during an eruption of Māngere Mountain.

[11][10] There is an extensive history of Māori settlement in the Māngere Mountain area, and there are 95 archaeological sites around the park.

In 1882, the Ambury English & Co milk company established a creamery on a 260 acres (110 ha) farm on Wallace Road.

[13] During the 1960s, the Auckland Regional Authority purchased land adjacent to the Māngere sewage treatment plant as a buffer.

[3][18] The park is connected by walkway and cycleway to the Māngere Bridge to Onehunga in the north-east along Kiwi Esplanade,[19] and the Ihumātao to the south.