Bush Creek Walkway
Arrowtown · Otago
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 are welcome but must be kept under control at all times. That is the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust's current wording for the Mahu Whenua covenants this walkway crosses; the Trust is the walkway's controlling authority, appointed in the 2022 gazette notice that declared it”. Evidence: a hand-checked correction against the authority. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
Dogs are allowed here. Watch for ground-nesting birds and stock, and read the signs at the gate.
About Bush Creek Walkway
Bush Creek Walkway is a short walk of 0.6 km, near Arrowtown in Otago.
Follows Bush Creek up the valley from the Bush Creek Road end on the edge of Arrowtown to the junction where the Sawpit Gully loop and the Te Araroa alignment branch away. That lower segment is what is mapped here. QLDC holds the route in its asset register as two pieces sharing the site name Bush Creek Walkway, and the second piece carries on more than five kilometres further up the valley. The lead rule is mixed, and it is worth knowing why. Almost all of this section sits in the Rural General Zone, where the council bylaw says the leash requirement does not apply, so a dog under effective voice control may walk off the lead. Two short stretches cross legal road, where the leash rule does apply. Sawpit Gully itself is a separate walk with its own page. Bush Creek Track is one of the declared Arrowtown walkways in the Mahu Whenua covenants, and the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust, the controlling authority named in the 2022 gazette notice, welcomes dogs kept under control at all times. When we first published this page the Trust had not yet been asked about dogs, so we held it at permit; its own Mahu Whenua page settles it. Stock graze the covenant country, so keep your dog close beyond the creek.
Graded easy, it climbs about 21 m overall, and takes about 9 min to walk.
Dogs are welcome here. This walk is on the map because Lisa & Ruby suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
