Bottled Lightning Powerhouse Walk
Reefton · West Coast
This walk was suggested by the community and checked against the authority quoted above before it was published. The route line comes from official track data. The rule-setter’s own wording: “Dogs shall be restrained on a leash in the following areas: All urban areas as defined within the Buller District Plan. All other parks not identified as a prohibited area. River edges, beach or dune areas where there is a presence of recreation swimmers or picnickers (excluding conservation prohibited areas). (Buller District Council, Dog Control Policy, Leash Control Areas. The loop runs through Reefton township and along the Inangahua River edge, so it is on lead under all three limbs.) The same policy lists the Dog Exercise Areas, "Dogs may be exercised at large in the following areas ... Reefton Area - Strand, Crampton Road Reserve (adjacent racecourse), old cemetery (Buller Road)", so The Strand where you park is off lead even though the walk itself is not. Buller prohibits dogs outright from "King George VI Jubilee Park at Reefton", which is about 200 m north of this loop and not on it”. Evidence: the rule-setter’s own published wording. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
Dogs are allowed here. Keep them on the lead, watch for ground-nesting birds and stock, and read the signs at the gate.
About Bottled Lightning Powerhouse Walk
This moderate-length walk follows 2.2 km, near Reefton in West Coast.
Reefton was the first town in New Zealand to get a public electricity supply, in 1888, and this short riverside loop is the town telling that story on its own ground. Inge, who sent it in with Pip, describes it exactly right: park on The Strand, stroll the loop, cross an easy swing bridge, and pick up the history on the way round. The panels along the way are the reason to walk slowly. It is 2.2 km all up and flat, which makes it a genuinely easy hour with a dog. From the Rosstown Road end the track runs east along the south bank of the Inangahua River to the site of the old powerhouse, crosses the river on the Inangahua Suspension Bridge, and comes back into town along Broadway. The swing bridge is the bit people remember. It is a timber deck about 0.8 m wide, so it moves under you, and a dog that has not met one before is better carried or kept close for the twenty seconds it takes. One short section of the south bank track is signed rough underfoot and is the only part that is not smooth going. The lead stays on for the loop. Buller District Council's Dog Control Policy puts dogs on a leash in all urban areas in the district plan, in all parks that are not prohibited areas, and along river edges where there are swimmers or picnickers, and this walk is all three at once. There is one nice wrinkle worth knowing, and it is in the same policy: The Strand, where Inge parks, is on Buller's list of areas where dogs may be exercised at large. So the carpark strip is off lead and the track is not, which is an easy thing to get backwards. Buller's only outright dog ban in Reefton is King George VI Jubilee Park, roughly 200 m north of the loop and not on the route. One thing to keep straight if you go looking at DOC's Reefton brochure. There is another Inangahua suspension bridge about 11 km east on SH7, on the Progress Water Race Track. Different bridge, different walk. This one starts in town.
It sits at the easy end and gains roughly 29 m, and takes about 29 min to walk.
Dogs are allowed here, on the lead. This walk is on the map because Inge & Pip suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
