Port Hills Walks
Fountain Walk
Time: 45 minutes
Area: Port Hills
Start Location: Start from Anzac Park, corner Halifax Street and Haven Road.
Download the Fountain Walk map.
Route directions
Cross Halifax Street at Saltwater Creek and follow the path down to the Trafalgar Centre. Turn left across the bridge to Haven Road. Until reclamation during the 1950s, Haven Road marked the waterfront - the stone wall visible on Saltwater Creek continues all the way around the former waterfront and beyond.
Turn right and follow Haven Road across QEII Drive and Vickerman Street to the fuel depot and the monument marking the first European landing.
Cross Haven Road and retrace your steps back to Fountain Place. Formerly called Beachville Street this is now an historic precinct. Sailors used to roll barrels up the hill here to replenish their water supplies at a spring in the grassed area at the top (now a communal outdoor area), adjacent to the last house on the left, Beachville, which was built in 1862.
Take the pedestrian path behind Beachville House to Beachville Crescent. Turn right and continue to Stanley Crescent. Turn left and walk up and over the top before taking the track down through Matangi Āwhio.
A recreation area planted and maintained by Nelson's Maori community through the Wakatu Incorporation, for the benefit of all Nelsonians. A panel at the bottom explains the significance of the area.
Cross to the Moller Fountain and turn right to return to Anzac Park. Dorothea Louisa Moller wanted this fountain (in memory of her husband) to be erected in Anzac Park. The Council didn't agree and eventually the Haven Road site was selected.
Russell Street Walk
Time: 1- 1 1/2 hours
Area: Port Hills
Start Location: Pioneers Park on the Washington Road side.
Download the Russell Street Walk map.
Route directions
Follow Washington Road up the valley, past the weeping elm at the corner of Hastings Street and Pioneer Cottage at 35 Washington Road, the oldest house in the street. Turn right into Rentone Street and walk up the hill (becomes Russell Street). At the top catch your breath and view the port activity. Nelson is New Zealand's premier fishing port and export centre for wood and fruit.
Go down Russell Street and where it levels out turn to the left and go up Will Watch Way (named after the fourth immigrant ship to Nelson). Russell Street on the port side of the hill is a classified historic precinct. Many of the houses date back to the 1870s with the street itself dating as far back as 1842. Up until the late 1950s the railway line ran around the water's edge and the sea still lapped at the base of Russell Street, before the port reclamation project began.
If you have children with you the Russell Street playground is about 100 metres along from the beginning of Will Watch Way. Will Watch Way zigzags up the hillside to Queens Road. Turn right at the top and follow the road round past the landmark eucalyptus trees and the Queens Road Reserve. Take the veer right and down the Stepney Lane steps to Harbour Terrace. Turn left at the bottom, right into Poynters Crescent and then left into Wakefield Quay.
Walk along Wakefield Quay past The Boathouse, which has been restored as an entertainment venue, and two of Nelson's top restaurants, The Boatshed and The Waterfront Café, rebuilt after it was gutted by fire in 1996.
Turn left from the waterfront up Victoria Road and then right into Fifeshire Crescent and along to Richardson Street. Turn left and go down Washington Road and back to Pioneers Park.
Stepneyville Walk
Time: 1/2 - 1 hour
Area: Port Hills
Start Location: The Basin Reserve carpark on Rocks Road, opposite Connolly's Quay fishing platform.
Download the Stepneyville Walk map.
Route directions
Cross Rocks Road and head north beside the water, past Fifeshire Rock (also called Arrow Rock), Haulashore Island and a couple of great Nelson restaurants.
There are many seats along the waterfront where you can stop and admire the view. Cross the road (which is now Wakefield Quay) when you get to The Boathouse and start going up Poynters Crescent. Turn left into Harbour Terrace and then right up the steps of Stepney Lane.
Much of the walkway is in the shade and quite mossy so take care if the path is wet. Follow the walkway up to Queens Road and continue to the left.
At the top where Queens Road and Victoria Heights meet is the Queens Road Reserve. There's a seat here to catch your breath and look out over Tasman Bay before taking Victoria Heights over the brow of the hill. On your left is a view of Nelson's hilly backdrop, the Grampians, the city centre, and the Centre of New Zealand.
Continue along Victoria Heights and turn right into Britannia Heights. At the top of Britannia Heights is the Songer Tree, Sequoiadendron giganteum, a North American Californian native that was planted on Arbor Day 1900. At night this tree is lit up with bud lights.
Follow Britannia Heights down and at the crossroads, turn right into Richardson Street and go down the hill to Rocks Road or take Stafford Walk which is off to the right. Turn left into Rocks Road and back to the Basin Reserve.
