Whareroa Stream Loop
Paekakariki · 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. The rule-setter’s own wording: “Greater Wellington Regional Council, Queen Elizabeth Park, dog walking panel, read 29 August 2026: “Dogs are welcome in all parts of the park, except for the Te Ara o Tipapa Loop and Dune Swamp Loop. While dogs are not required to be on a lead, please keep them under control and pick up after them at all times.” This track is neither of the two exclusions, so dogs are welcome here and off lead is allowed under control. One caution on the source itself: the Know before you go panel further up the same page names only Te Ara o Tipapa, and the 2026 park brochure also names only Te Ara o Tipapa. Two of the three are silent on the Dune Swamp Loop, so we treat Dune Swamp as no dogs until the council reconciles its own pages. Do not confuse this with Whareroa Farm Recreation Reserve, which is Department of Conservation land on the other side of State Highway 1 and is a flat no for dogs”. 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 Whareroa Stream Loop
Whareroa Stream Loop covers 4.0 km, near Paekakariki in Wellington, walked as a loop.
An hour and four kilometres of easy loop from the Mackays Crossing end of Queen Elizabeth Park, following Whareroa Stream up through farmland to the rolling sandhills of the northern Inland Track, then turning left and coming back down to Mackays Crossing by Whareroa Road. Greater Wellington grades it easy and that is fair: it is flat to gently rolling the whole way. The stream section is the good part. Native re-vegetation plantings line the track, and you pass close under Whareroa Pa on the low ground before the sandhills. The return along the road is the plain half of the loop, so if you would rather not finish on gravel, walk the stream out and back instead and you will have seen the best of it. Dogs are welcome and there is no lead requirement, which is Greater Wellington's rule across the whole park bar the Te Ara o Tipapa Loop and the Dune Swamp Loop. Keep them under control and pick up after them. This is working farmland with stock in the paddocks either side for much of the way, so control here means real control, and the model aircraft club sits beside the southern part of the loop, which is worth knowing if noise unsettles your dog. One thing to get right before you drive out. Whareroa Stream Loop is inside Queen Elizabeth Park, west of State Highway 1. Whareroa Farm Recreation Reserve is a separate place on the eastern side of the motorway, it is Department of Conservation land, and dogs are not allowed there at all. Same name, opposite answer, a motorway between them.
Graded easy, it climbs about 19 m overall, and takes about 50 min to walk.
Dogs are welcome here. This walk is on the map because Kellie & Jack suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.