Lismore Park Loop
Wānaka · Otago · Loop
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. Queenstown Lakes District Council’s own wording: “All Reserves are designated as dog exercise areas except - (a) Earnslaw Park: (b) Marine Parade (c) Marine Parade Reserve (d) Matakauri Park (e) Queenstown Bay (f) Queenstown Gardens (g) Queenstown Hill Reserve and Queenstown Hill Walkway. Reserve means an area of land that is - (a) vested in or administered by the council under the provisions of the Reserves Act 1977; or (b) any park, domain or recreational area under the control or ownership of the Council. An owner must keep their dog under control on a leash in - (a) all cemeteries; and (b) all playgrounds and skate boarding facilities; and (c) any other public place. Clauses 4(1) and 4(2) do not apply in - Areas designated (by Council resolution) as dog exercise areas, unless that area is a playground, skate boarding facilities or cemetery. Where an owner is not required to keep a dog under control on a leash the owner must - (a) keep that dog under effective control by voice, or signal while that dog is in any public place; and (b) immediately leash and bring the dog under control if the dog causes a nuisance to any person or animal. No dogs (with the exception of disability assist dogs) will be permitted to enter onto the following public places - (a) All schools, unless part of education programs or organised events managed by the school. (Queenstown Lakes District Council Dog Control Bylaw 2020, clauses 5(1) and 6, read with the Dog Control Policy 2020 s11.)”. 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 Lismore Park Loop
Lismore Park Loop is a loop of 1.9 km, near Wānaka in Otago.
Lismore Park is the big reserve in the middle of Wānaka, a block up from Ardmore Street, and the walk here is close to 2 km of flat, easy ground on the paths through it. Parking is easy: Beaumont Street runs along the park and the streets around it have room, which is where Inge and Pip leave the car. Start at the Hedditch Street corner by Little Street and follow the sealed Schools to Pool path northwest the whole length of the park, through the pines, to the far end near the Wanaka Pool. Turn around there and come back down to the Lismore Street junction, then take the branch heading northeast into the middle of the park and follow it back southeast to the corner you started from. QLDC calls this a large reserve overlooking Roys Bay towards Roys Peak, and Petra, who sent this one in, rates the bench up there for the lake view. Dogs can be off the lead, and it is worth knowing why. Lismore Park is not named as a dog exercise area anywhere. The QLDC bylaw designates every council reserve as one by default, and Lismore is simply not on the short list of eight exceptions. Duties ride with that: your dog has to be under effective control by voice or signal the whole time, and back on the lead the moment it causes a nuisance to any person or animal. Any playground or skate boarding facility inside the park stays on-lead regardless. Two things share this ground and both are a real test of recall. An 18-hole disc golf course runs through the pines, so expect discs moving fast and hard to see. The Lismore Bike Jump Park sits just off the eastern side of the route, so expect riders. Call your dog in early around both. One hard boundary at the top end: the park is the thoroughfare between the town centre and the schools, and the northwest end comes out beside Mount Aspiring College and the pool. The bylaw allows no dogs on school grounds at all, so keep to the park side of the fence there.
Expect easy going, with around 13 m of climb, and takes about 24 min to walk.
Dogs are welcome here. This walk is on the map because Petra & Bowzer suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
