Wednesday Walkies: Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens

Ashmore Road

BENOWA

Another favourite place of mine, which might lead you to already be assuming a few things about it. And if you think that means:

-unfenced

-water access

-spacious

You're right on the money.

This is literally in the Gold Coast Botanic Gardens, but do pay attention to the signage up as the bulk of the gardens don't allow dogs at all- even on lead. There's a section down the back that is lead on only, but don't assume you can just park wherever and walk your dog about.

The off leash section is pretty easy to find: follow the ring road around and take the first left that you come across. There are car parking spots all along here, and if you drive right to the very end and park you're just a short walk away, along a concrete path, to the off leash area.

In terms of a walk for the humans, this probably isn't the most interesting place in the world. A sealed concrete path in a large circuit around the general edge of the area is really all there is to it, but the space for the dogs to run really does make up for it. In the very middle of this concrete circuit is a massive grassy area, flat and perfect for the dogs to really stretch out and run. There are also a couple of areas away from this main path that you could easily tuck yourself away into, if the park was busier than when we went and you wanted to have a bit of space to yourself.

There's not one but two bodies of water for the dogs to swim in, one of which is a bit easier for them to access than the other. I will mention that there were a couple of swans on the water when we were there, so something to bear in mind if you have a chasey dog- just be very cautious! We went in the middle of the day in March and although it was hot, with about half of the path circuit shady for humans, and the water for the dogs to cool off in, it really didn't feel anywhere near as warm as it actually was.

Final note, and once again I'm a stick in the mud: this is unfenced, so well behaved dogs who stick close to their owners is even more important than in regular off leash areas. I will however say that it's a pretty secure area for being unfenced, with water boarding a couple of edges, the fence of a golf course boarding the back, and the back fences of people's properties forming another edge, so in terms of unfenced off leash areas, it's probably one of the more enclosed.