Oku Street Reserve

The Oku Street Reserve is an 8-hectare park in Wellington, New Zealand. It is located on a promontory between the suburbs of Island Bay and Ōwhiro Bay, and looks down over Taputeranga Marine Reserve and Ōwhiro Bay. It comprises two small hills with a ridge between them, and has a path and several benches, with two public access points.
In the 1970s the land that is now the reserve was farm pasture. In the late 1980s Fletcher Construction planned a new subdivision on the site, but after local opposition they did a land-swap with Wellington City Council who bought the land and gazetted it as a recreation reserve in 1998. Volunteers replanted the reserve with seedlings from the Council's nursery.

Access

Wellington's City to Sea Walkway passes along Oku Street in Island Bay and traverses the reserve before continuing down Severn Street in Ōwhiro Bay. The park has a path in the middle with some offshoots, and has stairs on either side. It is not wheelchair accessible.

Biology and ecology

Oku Street Reserve contains several species of endemic flora, such as taupata, koromiko, and tarata. It also is home to a few relict specimens of Cook Strait mahōe, which only grows on either side of the Cook Strait.