Mackenzie & the Aoraki Fringe

Dogs on this trip. Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is entirely closed to dogs, do not drive the dog up SH80 to Hooker Valley, Mueller or Kea Point. Everywhere else on this route welcomes them: the Alps 2 Ocean sections are shared cycle trails, and Sept–Feb the Twizel and Pukaki braided riverbeds hold nesting kakī (black stilt) and banded dotterel, so keep out of the gravel. The Ahuriri Valley is the one place with room to properly run, but it's active 1080 and trapping country, check DOC alerts before you go, and watch lake edges for toxic algae in warm, low-flow summer.