Johnsonville Park

Highlights: Native bush, views, Mt Kaukau connection, glow worms at night!

Length: 1 - 2 hours depending on your route

Where: 15 min by car from Wellington CBD

What to take: Active wear, camera, picnic

A beautiful walk during the day, this area also has the added feature of being home to hundreds of glow worms, making for a pretty spectacular evening adventure as well.

Getting there: There are a few different tracks, routes and entrances to the park. Our favourite is to start at the Johnsonville Park car park. From Wellington, follow the motorway north and get off at the Johnsonville exit. Take Broderick Rd at the second set of lights which will lead you onto Truscott Ave. The car park is located at the end of Truscott Ave.

From the car park, follow the signs to the 'Circular Track' towards the right. The walk begins gradually, following a wide, tree-lined path running alongside a small stream. At night, the stream is surrounded by sparkling glow worms, reflecting in the river. By day, not too long after starting the walk, you will see a grassy clearing on your left, just begging to be used for a picnic when the sun is shining.

Assuming you haven't been distracted by the picnic option, the track continues uphill and soon turns into a series of staircases, providing for some fast elevation. Near the top of the stairs, there is a small tunnel on the right, which used to provide an outlet for the water reservoir on the other side of the hill. Now, it just looks incredibly haunted, and is filled with plenty of glow worms if you dare make it up this far at night (if so, you will need a very good torch to safely navigate the stairs).

After the stairs, the path reassumes a nice gradient, looping around the edge of the hill, with views across the south coast's wind farms and the Cook Strait. On the other side of the hill, you have the option of carrying on to the top of Mt Kaukau (you're almost there, so it's worth doing for the bragging rights), or looping back by veering left and following the arrows back to Truscott Ave. The return journey has a lot of stairs and can be a bit precarious after a lot of rain, so for those less able we recommend just returning the way you came.