Waikanae River Middle Loop
Waikanae · Wellington · 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. Kāpiti Coast District Council’s own wording: “Kāpiti Coast District Council Dog Control Bylaw 2019 (amended 2023), read 3 September 2026. The district default is a lead, at clause 6.3, so off lead has to be positively named in Schedule 3 or 4 or it does not exist. Both sides of this loop are named, and they do not say the same thing. SCHEDULE THREE, Dog off-leash areas, 1(e): “The river bank walkway on the south side of the Waikanae River from the Otaihanga Domain to old State Highway One.” The whole of this loop’s south bank sits inside that stretch, so the outward leg is off lead end to end. The north bank splits at a single point. SCHEDULE TWO, Dog on-leash areas, 1(m): “The Waikanae Riverbank Walkway on the north side of the Waikanae River from the western edge of Jim Cooke Park to Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve.” That one runs west from the park and it covers most of the return leg. SCHEDULE THREE 1(f) runs east from the very same point: “The river bank walkway on the north side of the Waikanae River from the western edge of Jim Cooke Park to old State Highway One, excluding Edgewater Park (which is a dog on-leash area).” Jim Cooke Park’s western boundary sits at longitude 175.0406 and the drawn line crosses it at about 4.1 km, so about 1.7 km of the north bank is on lead and the last kilometre back to the Te Arawai footbridge is off lead. The footbridge at the western end is on lead by name rather than by inference. SCHEDULE ONE 1(j) makes “The Kapiti Expressway (not including the shared cycleways, walkways, and bridleways alongside the Expressway)” a no dog area, and SCHEDULE TWO 1(c) then picks up those shared paths in its own note: “this includes the shared cycleways, walkways, and bridleways alongside the Kapiti Expressway”. We have called the loop on lead overall because you cannot close it without that bridge and without the on-leash half of the north bank. Kellie reported it as off lead on the south side and on lead on the north side between Greenaway Road and Jim Cooke Park, and the schedules back her on both counts. Edgewater Park, the on-leash exception written into 1(f), sits east of this loop and does not reach it”. 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 Waikanae River Middle Loop
Waikanae River Middle Loop covers 5.0 km, near Waikanae in Wellington, walked as a loop.
The middle one of the three loops the footbridges make over the Waikanae River, and the longest of the three at 5.1 km. It runs from the Te Arawai footbridge west along the south bank to the shared path bridge beside the Kāpiti Expressway, crosses, and comes back down the north bank. Kellie and Jack sent in all three, and this one completes the set. The line mapped here is her own recorded track. The dog rules change as you go round, and on this loop they change more than on the other two, so it is worth having straight before you set off. The south bank is a listed off-leash area for its whole length here, and that is the outward half, about 2.4 km of it. Cross the expressway footbridge with the lead on, because the shared paths alongside the expressway are on-leash in their own right. Then the north bank is on lead from the bridge back east until you reach the western edge of Jim Cooke Park, roughly 1.7 km, and off lead again for the last kilometre through to the Te Arawai footbridge. That is the council naming these stretches one by one rather than a default we are leaning on, and it matches what Kellie reported from the ground: off lead on the south side, on lead between Greenaway Road and Jim Cooke Park. The on-leash stretch on the north bank passes the Kāpiti Equestrian and Vaulting Centre, and Kellie’s advice is to expect horses on the track through there. It is a good reason to be glad of the lead rule on that side rather than resentful of it. The path is shared with cyclists as well, so a short lead beats a long flexi. It is flat river-berm walking the whole way, with the water beside you and access down to it in plenty of places. If Jack still has running left in him at the western end, the Greenaway Road Dog Park at Pukekawa Reserve is off lead under the same bylaw, as is the flood-prone flat next to it, though neither is fenced. The other two loops are on the site already, and the three of them share bridges, so you can join any two of them into a longer morning.
Expect moderate going, with around 18 m of climb, and takes about 1 hr 2 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.
