Otuataua Stonefields is a dog friendly historical site not far from Auckland Airport, and provides an escape from the city with a huge amount of space for exploring and dog walking, with awesome views across the harbour towards Auckland city. It is a site of much contention between the locals and developers, and evidence of this isn’t hard to spot on the drive up to the gates with signs lining the roads. Once you’ve visited this reserve you’ll understand why, as it’s a really special spot – the thought of losing any of it to development is quite sad.

Leash Rules
My first visit was a few years ago for a portrait session, and back then it seemed like a magical place – off lead, endless space to romp around with the dogs off lead and not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately while researching prior to our visit this time around, I discovered a lot of conflicting information online and ended up having to ask in a local dog group for clarification on the rules – even that was conflicting, with one person having a letter from the council as recently as 2017 stating off lead, while others are adamant that it is on lead. Best practice in situations like this is to follow signage present at the park, and the only dog-related signage was at the main gates and that states on lead.  While obviously disappointing from a dog owners perspective, I can definitely understand the reasoning behind this with stock grazing the area.

This reserve is accessed from Ihumatao Quarry Road, with plenty of parking near the gates. You can find a map and more information about Otuataua Stonefields on the council website here. One important thing to note here is the request not to consume food in the area, and to refrain from walking on the top of the Puketaapapa volcano due to it being a sacred place.

Once you are in the reserve, you can opt to follow the rough trails but most of the time you just end up walking through paddocks. You do need to be a bit careful here as the ground is rough, so watch where you’re going. It was a bit muddy and slippery this day, and we did come across one enormous bog which was deceptively deep – definitely thankful for our boots! But if you stick to the higher ground or are visiting in summer then you shouldn’t have too much problem. We mostly explored the western side of the reserve this time.
It was a dark and gloomy day for this visit, but the views are always spectacular with the Sky Tower and One Tree Hill visible on the horizon, and the Waitakare Ranges in the other direction. There’s so much to see and explore, and I can’t emphasize enough what a treasure it is.

There was stock grazing in the area we walked through, and you can get quite close to them at times. They all seem very quiet, but definitely something you need to be really aware of if you have dogs with you. I had my extremely high-drive working pup in training with me, and while he is getting quite good with his recall around stock on my own farm, I wasn’t going to test it around other peoples stock for the sake of a few photos (hence why we don’t have many dog photos in this post!). Unfortunately we did witness some other dog walkers being less aware, letting their off-lead dogs harass the stock – this is not only risky for the cattle, dogs and people, it really puts dog access privileges in jeopardy. Use your common sense, follow the dog rules and respect the stocks space. I wanted to finish off this blog with a few pics from the photo session I mentioned at the start of this blog (on a much warmer, sunnier day!) which really made me fall in love with this spot. While you aren’t allowed dogs off lead here anymore, it is still a very special place and a great one to go for an on-lead walk in the Auckland area. A must visit.

On Lead
Car Parking – Plenty, side of the road near the gates.
Toilets, Bins, Water – No
Other – No food to be consumed on the reserve, and don’t walk to the top of the Puketaapapa volcano. Be aware of stock, keep your dog on lead and well under control at all times. Decent shoes recommended, especially in winter as it can be muddy. The Watercare Walkway and beaches next to the reserve do not permit dogs. Map of Stonefields is available here.