Visit Korokoro Dam New Zealand
What and where is the Korokoro Dam?
The Korokoro Dam is part of Belmont Regional Park, which lies between the Hutt Valley and Porirua on the North Island of New Zealand.
The park has open hills and bush covered valleys and provides opportunities to walk, run, mountain bike, and horseback ride.
The Korokoro Dam is a concrete gravity dam that was built to provide Petone with a high pressure water supply that was required to fight fires.
Petone lies in the Hutt Valley about 12 km (7.5 mi) northeast of Wellington City.
You must take a short walk through native bush to be able to visit and see the Korokoro Dam.
How To Get To The Korokoro Dam
Because the Korokoro Dam lies in Belmont Regional Park, you must visit the park to get to the dam.
Belmont Regional Park has several entrances, but the one that allows the quickest access to the Korokoro Dam lies just off Oakleigh Street.
You can get to the Oakleigh Street entrance of Belmont Regional Park by driving or by catching two buses from Wellington City or a train and a bus from Wellington City. There is no need to rent a car to get to this location.
If you are going by car, get onto State Highway 2 from Wellington City, drive to Lower Hutt, and follow signs to Maungaraki.
Once you reach Maungaraki, follow Dowse Drive, turn left onto Oakleigh Street, and then drive until you see the sign and parking lot for Belmont Regional Park on your right just before Oakleigh Street becomes Maungaraki Road.
If you are going by public transport, catch bus 83 (Eastbourne) to Jackson Street near Petone Station in Lower Hutt or catch the Melling Line or Hutt Valley Line train to Petone Station.
Either method to get to Petone Station will cost around $5.50, but the train ride is shorter (12 minutes) than the bus ride (25 minutes).
Check out Metlink for the most recent fares and timetables for buses or trains.
After you get off the bus at Jackson Street, walk in the opposite direction the bus was driving, and then cross Hutt Road at the traffic lights to get to the Petone Station bus stop.
The distance to the bus stop is about 190 meters (0.1 mi), and it takes about 3 minutes to walk that distance.
If you catch a train, you will have to walk from the platform toward Hutt Road to get to the Petone Station bus stop. The bus stop is right next to the train station.
From the Petone Station bus stop, you must then catch bus 150 (Kelson) to Maungaraki Road at Oakleigh Street. It takes about 8 minutes to reach Oakleigh Street and costs about $2.50.
After you get off the bus on Oakleigh Street, walk up the road in the opposite direction the bus was driving.
After about 2 minutes or 150 meters (0.1 mi) of walking, you should see a large sign for Belmont Regional Park on your right.
Once you enter the park, you should see a small sign on your left pointing to the left toward the Korokoro Dam, Cornish Street, and Belmont Trig. The trail is located right next to this sign.
While there is a second trail entrance further beyond, the first entrance offers the shortest path to the Korokoro Dam.
You will pass wooden bridges, boardwalks, tree ferns, and nikau palms on your way to the Korokoro Dam, and it should take you about 20 minutes to reach the dam.
Once you are done visiting the dam, you can just retrace your steps back to the entrance of the park.
While you can make a loop walk out of this walk, the rest of the trail is not very interesting unless you want to get some exercise and see more native bush.
Why visit the Korokoro Dam?
There aren’t many reasons to visit the Korokoro Dam other than to have a pleasant bush walk before you reach what looks like a tiered waterfall that makes lots of noise but that is set in a very peaceful area.
The environment is nice and invigorating to walk through, and once you get to the dam, you can just sit down and relax.
In addition, you will see lots of native bush and hear birds on your way to the dam.
The best time to visit the Korokoro Dam is probably when there have been several dry days before you visit.
Because the trail is completely sheltered by bush, it can get muddy after a period of heavy rain, so give the trail a couple of days to dry out before you visit.
There are also picnic tables around the parking lot, so if you want to have a picnic in the park, you can do so.
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