Otaraua Park
Otaihanga · Wellington
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. Kāpiti Coast District Council’s own wording: “Kāpiti Coast District Council's Dog Control Bylaw 2019 (amended 2023), clause 6.3: "The owner shall not allow any dog to enter onto any public place (not designated a dog off-leash area as stipulated in Schedule 3 or 4 of this Bylaw) and remain there without being under continuous leash control." The park's open ground is not a designated off leash area, so the lead stays on, and Schedule One makes "All sports grounds under Council's control" no dog areas, so keep off the sportsfields at the northern end”. 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 Otaraua Park
This short walk follows 1.8 km, near Otaihanga in Wellington.
The council's page makes Otaraua Park sound like sportsfields, and it is much more than that: a former farm on the south bank of the Waikanae River, destocked and now fully open for recreation, with gravel farm roads, open paddocks and a beautiful stand of remnant forest full of nīkau. This 1.9 km line runs the length of the park between two points where it meets the south bank of the Waikanae River Trail, and there is a car park off Lancelot Grove in Otaihanga if you would rather start from the road. Dogs are on the lead through the park. The open ground here is not a designated off leash area, so the bylaw's default leash rule applies, and the sportsfields at the northern end are no dog areas under the council's blanket sports grounds rule, so give them a wide berth. The payoff for the lead is right next door: the river bank walkway on the south side of the Waikanae River, from Otaihanga Domain to old State Highway One, is a listed off leash area, and joining the two makes a loop of about 3 km with an off lead leg along the water. The nīkau remnant is the quiet highlight, a pocket of the forest this coast used to carry, and the open paddocks give the walk a spacious, farmy feel that is rare this close to town. Kellie and Jack, who mapped the line, use it as the green half of a river loop, and that is the way to walk it.
Graded easy, it climbs about 14 m overall, and takes about 23 min to walk.
Dogs are allowed here, on the lead. This walk is on the map because Kellie & Jack suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
