Centre of New Zealand Walkway
Nelson · Nelson-Tasman
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. Nelson City Council’s own wording: “Dogs Off-leash. In all public places where dogs are not prohibited or required to be on a leash, dogs must be kept under control by the owner. It is the responsibility of the owner to decide whether this control can be achieved off leash or on a leash. Nothing in this clause absolves the owner from the obligation to carry a leash at all times while he or she is with the dog in a public place. Dogs prohibited: the playing area of any Council sports grounds. Dogs permitted but must be kept on a leash: around the playing areas of sports fields when games or training sessions are occurring. (At other times dogs may be off leash on sports grounds other than the playing area of sports grounds.)”. Evidence: the rule-setter’s own published wording. 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 Centre of New Zealand Walkway
Centre of New Zealand Walkway is a short walk of 1.1 km, near Nelson in Nelson-Tasman.
Climbs from the Hardy Street corner of the Botanics Sportsfield up the zig-zag walkway on Botanical Hill to the survey monument at the top, about 20 to 30 minutes of steady climbing for the view over the city, the Haven and the Maitai Valley. Nelson City Council lists Botanical Hill as an off-leash park, and the bylaw default leaves it to the owner to decide whether under control means off the leash or on it, with a leash carried either way. The catch is at the bottom of the hill: the marked playing area of the sportsfield is a prohibited area all year, and the ground around it goes on-leash whenever a game or training session is running, so keep to the formed perimeter path and clip the leash on if the field is in use. The line mapped here is the main graded track, the one the council says suits sturdier buggies. The steeper stepped routes and the mountain bike access track branch off it. The hill was chief surveyor John Spence Browning’s central survey point in the 1870s, and a 1962 survey put the true centre of the country over in the Spooners Range.
Expect easy going, with around 107 m of climb, and takes about 23 min to walk.
Dogs are welcome here. This walk is on the map because Roxy & Doug suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
