Willowbank is also very cool . Its got a great farmyard the kids can walk around in and kiwi enclosure, plus all the usual monkeys , Birds, eels you can hand feed , horses, pigs, etc etc . I took my 18month old to orana park recently and she fell asleep and got a bit bored but she LOVES willowbank . Orana park is fantastic but its very big so theres alot of  walking space between the animals which is why i think it was a bit boring for her , also some of the animals are far away ( rhinos, zebra etc etc ) but willowbank is alot smaller so all the animals are close walking distance between each other and you can see all the animals clearly . im not putting orana park down at all because it is great i just prefer willowbank for younger child .

Theres a great playground up at victoria park ( up the hill ) , bishopdale  park is also great , The Botanic Gardens is  a must if its nice weather it has a great playgound/paddling pool and has beautiful gardnes, sumner beach as mentioned above and scarborough which is just down from sumner (you can either walk there down the beach from sumner or 2-3min drive up the road ) it also has a great playground and paddeling pool .

As for hotels/motels im afraid i dont know any sorry as i live in chch so never stay anywhere .