Parks and recreation

There are more than 50,000 hectares of parks in Wellington Region just waiting for you to explore.

If your idea of beauty is a remote beach, or a windswept bluff with a lighthouse, you’ll find that. How about lush native bush or wetlands teeming with wildlife? You’ll find that too. There are rivers and ranges, farmland and forests, seabeds and sand dunes, and even film sets.

 COVID-19 update

Posted 22 September 2020

We are currently at Alert Level 1. In order to recover from the effects of COVID-19 in our community, it is important to:

• Stay at home if you’re sick to stop any future spread of COVID-19
• Maintain good hygiene measures (cough or sneeze into your elbow)
• Keep track of where you have been and who you have seen for contact tracing purposes
• Wash your hands regularly

If you have any questions for us, please call 0800 496 734.

More information on COVID-19

NZ Government COVID-19 website

Ministry of Health information and advice

Ministry of Health: 0800 358 5453

Parks Network Plan

The Parks Network Plan (PNP) is a combined plan for eight of Wellington’s regional parks and forests. Parks and forests included in the plan are Battle Hill, Belmont, East Harbour (including Baring Head and Parangarahu Lakes), Queen Elizabeth, Akatarawa and Pakuratahi and Kaitoke. A new draft plan has been developed and public feedback is welcomed. You can review the draft Plan and have your say on it now.

Things to do

• Get outdoors: Have a picnic, fly a drone, or go camping, fishing, horse riding, dog walking and feed some eels.
• Join in:  Go to an event, follow a guided walk, or get involved through volunteering.
• Be active: Go walking, running and hiking, swimming, mountain biking, hunting, rafting and kayaking, or four wheel driving and trail biking.
• Set the scene: Get married, run an event or make a film.

Need help to "Find your Wild"? See Wellington Regional Trails to find out about trails and what to know before you go.

Find a park that suits you 

Each of the region’s parks offers something special, with different things to do and environments.