Pharazyn Reserve East Walkway
Waikanae · 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: “Kapiti Coast District Council Dog Control Bylaw 2019 (amended 2023), Schedule Two, section 2 Sensitive sites: "These sensitive sites remain dog on-leash areas at all times", and the list names Pharazyn Reserve. The council’s own dog access data records the eastern block, which it labels Pharazyn Reserve (South), as on-leash in summer and in winter alike. The western dune block next door is mapped one step tighter as an on-leash restricted area, which the bylaw defines as "an area where dogs are permitted, provided they are under continuous leash control and remain on formed pathways and walking tracks"”. 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 Pharazyn Reserve East Walkway
Near Waikanae in Wellington, Pharazyn Reserve East Walkway runs 1.1 km.
A loop of a bit over a kilometre through the eastern half of Pharazyn Reserve at Waikanae, on the inland side of the reserve where the town’s former oxidation ponds sit. The ponds have been rehabilitated into wetland, and the walking loop runs up their western side and back rather than around them. Kellie, who walks this one with Jack, tells us the pond perimeter is not open to the public, so the line we draw is her own recorded track and it stays west of the water. It is flat the whole way and quiet, and the birdlife is the point, so this is a place to have your dog beside you rather than ranging. The leash rule here is not a general park default, it is specific. Kapiti Coast District Council lists Pharazyn Reserve in Schedule Two of its Dog Control Bylaw as a sensitive site, an important habitat for wildlife vulnerable to disturbance by dogs, and sensitive sites stay on-leash at all times with no summer or winter switch. The council’s dog access mapping agrees for this eastern block, on-leash in both seasons. Worth knowing before you set off: the dune country on the western side of the reserve is a different rule again. It is mapped as on-leash restricted, which in the bylaw’s own words means your dog must be on the leash and must also stay on the formed pathways and walking tracks, not out into the plantings. If you walk the two halves in one outing, the tighter rule applies once you are over there. Parking is off Paetawa Road, which runs along the eastern edge of the reserve. The path surface is firm and even, and the loop brings you back within a few metres of where you started, so it walks as a circuit rather than an out and back.
Expect easy, near-level going, and takes about 14 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.
