Ninety Mile Beach - Far North
Ninety Mile Beach (named by the local Maori - Te Oneroa a Tohe - the long beach of Tohe) is a favourite local, tourist and fishing destination in the Far North of New Zealand. Ninety Mile Beach is closer in length to 88 kilometres (54.6 miles), but the name has remained more out of sentimental nostalgia than accuracy. The golden sands of Ninety Mile Beach begin at Ahipara Bay, then sweep Northward to the south of Cape Maria van Diemen, onto the Bluff, Motupia Island and settling at Scott Point.
Swimming, surfcasting, picnicking, boating, gathering kaimoana (seafood) at low tide, sand surfing on bodyboards around the massive sand dunes at Te Paki quicksand stream, leisure fishing, or competitive fishing events; such as the Snapper Classic held annually every March, where hundreds of anglers gather to compete for the largest catch. The wonderful Aupouri Forest contains 29,000 hectares of pine forest that runs parallel to Ninety Mile Beach. The radiata pine forest offers shelter from the long hot summer days for many beach revellers needing shady relief.
Stand among the giant Kauri trees at Puketi Forest, visit the Awanui and Houhora Kauri Museums to learn more about these colossal giants, that can grow to almost 60 metres (196.85 feet) and 5 metres (16.4 feet) in width, with a life span of more than 2,000 years. Tour guides will take you along Ninety Mile Beach, along unsealed roads and through quicksand streams, to enjoying lunch at the Houhora Game Fishing Club that overlooks the spectacular Hourhora Harbour.
Visitors to Ninety Mile Beach have a chance to enjoy scenic guided tours where luxury coaches will deliver tourists to the wild beauty of this vast, untouched region. Cape Reinga (The Place of the Leaping) where you can view the immense power of the Pacific Ocean clashing with the Tasman Sea. This majestic, spiritual cape with a lone lighthouse is where Maori believe that the spirits of the departed voyage back to their ancestral home of Hawaiiki to their final resting place.