The Catlins Coast
Waterfalls, wild coast & ancient forest
Best for Families, Photography.
Waterfall Wonders
- 1
Elles Road Dog Park
Fully fenced off-lead runFully fenced off-lead run in Invercargill - stretch the dog's legs and stock up before the remote drive east into the Ca
- ~95 km drive
- 2
- 3
Whistling Frog Cafe
Dog-friendly, check seatingDog-friendly Catlins cafe right beside McLean Falls - the natural lunch and coffee stop out here.
- ~21 km drive
- 4
- ~8 km drive
- 5
- 6
Papatowai Campsite
Dogs welcome, check the rulesSeaside DOC camp among the trees - your base for the waterfall day.
Coastal Exploration
- 1
Jack's Blowhole Walk
On-lead200m-deep collapsed sea cave reached across coastal farmland (1 hr return).
- 2
- ~3 km drive
- 3
Purakaunui Bay Campsite
Dogs welcome, check the rulesWild surf-beach DOC camp under the cliffs - falls asleep to the sound of the sea.
Trips like this one
Auckland West: Black Sand & the Waitākere Fringe
Muriwai is on-lead year-round, and the south-end Otakamiro gannet colony with its clifftop tracks is strictly no-dogs, so keep well clear. Kakamatua Inlet is one of West Auckland's rare off-lead dog beaches, but Auckland Council puts most beaches on-lead 10am–5pm from 1 December to 1 March, so run early or late. This route deliberately avoids the Waitākere Ranges' interior kauri tracks (Piha, Kitekite, Karekare), which are dog-prohibited for kauri dieback, and treats Riverhead Forest as the working plantation it is: on-lead, mind logging traffic, and check for pest-control bait before your dog noses the undergrowth.
Coromandel Loop
Most Coromandel beaches, including Hot Water, Cooks, Shakespeare Cliff and the Whitianga sands, carry summer daytime dog bans or on-lead rules (roughly Labour Weekend to 1 March), so plan beach time for early morning or the shoulder seasons and read the TCDC signs at every access. The kauri tracks at Waiomu and Long Bay have boot-cleaning stations and require dogs on-lead and on the boardwalk to slow dieback. The Broken Hills, Waiomu and Kauaeranga valleys see periodic DOC 1080 and bait-station pest control that is lethal to dogs, so check the DOC pesticide summary and warning signs before any bush walk and keep the dog leashed.
Christchurch & Banks Peninsula: City Parks to Akaroa
Christchurch and Banks Peninsula both sit under the Christchurch City Council dog bylaw: on-lead is the default in parks and on the Port Hills / Summit Road farm tracks (stock and spring lambing hazards), with fully-fenced off-lead romps at The Groynes, Victoria Park and Hagley's dog areas. Right now in July you are inside the winter beach window, so dogs are welcome off-lead on most coastal sand, but that flips to a daytime summer ban (roughly 10am to 7pm, 1 December to end of February), so this is the season to do the coast. On bush tracks like Okuti Valley, Garden of Tāne and the Port Hills reserves, check for 1080 and predator-control poison signs before unclipping and keep dogs off bait lines.