Quick Info
- A large, grassy area beside the Governor General’s residence
- Away from the road and local houses
- Parking is very difficult, unless you use the Hospital carpark (Wilson’s Parking).
Table of Contents
Access for wheelchairs, and pushchairs
- Access may be possible for wheelchairs via the Owen Street or Coromandel Street entrance, but most of the track is steep and grassy.
Facilities
- Rubbish bin: no
- Toilets: no
- Seats: no. There are a few seats near the children’s playground, outside the off-leash area.
- Lighting at night: no.
Description
Vice Regal North dog exercise area lies between Wellington Hospital in Newtown and Alexandra Road, Wellington, New Zealand.
It’s named for the Governor General’s residence that shares a boundary with the park.
It faces south, and lies on a reasonably steep grassy hillside.
Vice Regal off-leash area.
This is a large grassy slope bounded by bushes and trees, and the fence for the Governor General’s residence. The slope had been mowed when we visited.
The exercise area was new in 2009 and had not been marked with signage when we visited.
There are pleasant views over Newtown, to the south, and towards Wellington Harbour from the top of the slope. You can see the Alexandra Road West off-leash area behind the Ewart Hospital Building.
There’s access to Alexandra Road via a couple of tracks, but it’s some distance away. Once you’re past the entrance the whole park is fairly isolated — well away from roads and private properties.
This is a large area where you can easily see what your dog is doing and where your dog can have a good run.
This is area #35 on the City Council map: Alexandra Road West (99Kb PDF).
Terrain
- A hillside off-leash area
- Grassy
- Wide open
- Water: no, but it looks as though one or more streams could run down the hill in rainy weather.
- Well away from roads and houses.
Delights
- Away from the city.
- In the Town Belt.
- Large area.
- Views over Newtown, to the south, and over Wellington Harbour.
Dangers
- Once away from the entrances, no dangers are obvious.
Cautions
- We visited after a long dry period. After prolonged rain the hillside might be muddy and slippery.
- There were no visible signs of possum and rat poison, but poison is widely used in the Town Belt and is likely to be present.
Road access
This off-leash exercise area is accessible from entrances off Owen Street or Coromandel Street in Newtown, but free parking is very hard to find.
There are a couple of walking tracks down from near the old Fever Hospital, off Alexandra Road.
If you walk in from the Coromandel Street entrance (on the grounds of the Ewart Hospital Building), pass through the children’s playground, across the small wooden bridge and veer right to go up the hill to the off-leash area.
If you walk in from the Owen Street entrance take the first track to the right. Then either take the higher track past the reservoir, or the lower track that goes to the children’s playground. From there go left and up the hill.
See page 2 of this post for a photo album.
Location (see the map)
- Latitude: -41° 18′ 24.23″ (-41.306730)
- Longitude: 174° 47′ 2.03″ (174.783897)
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