90 Mile Beach

While Maitai Bay was a piece of paradise on a calm day, it was not nearly as nice on a windy day. Quite cold in fact. Our friends were keen to do some more drone fishing, so we left the DOC park in the hope of finding somewhere calmer. We went back to Tokerau Beach, but that was no better, so we made a group decision to head to Ahipara, at the base of 90 Mile Beach.

Bruce and I had looked for a bus tour of 90 Mile Beach, but the favoured company had closed down, and the only tours available now were leaving from Paihia (meaning they would be full of cruise ship passengers) and consisted of about a 13 hour day on a big bus full of people. I refused to let Bruce drive the motorhome on 90 Mile Beach, so Ahipara was our compromise. At least we would get to walk some of it.

Ahipara is a small settlement, with two camps. We stayed at the bigger one and it was a pretty good one, and just a short walk to the beach.

The beach is also classed as a NZ road (as is Tokerau Beach) with a speed limit of 15 KPH. There were utes and dune buggies zooming all over the place, and the speed limit was totally ignored, We had to be conscious of keeping out of their way.

It was windy here as well, so no drone fishing, but it was clear that someone had been successful with their fishing. The birds were pretty keen on the carcasses.

While the beach is beautiful, it is a long expanse of “all the same”. The whole length of 90 Mile Beach (which is actually 55 miles long, or 88 kilometers) is included in the Te Araroa Walking Trail. Bruce and I have been astounded at the number of walkers we have seen doing the trail, and we saw about 8 trampers on this stretch of the beach alone. There were also some staying in the camp we were at. Tina helped one with treatment for some blisters, which must be quite debilitating if you have to keep walking each day.

The Te Araroa trail runs the length of NZ, 3000 kilometers, and is divided into legs which can take a walker 50 – 80 days to complete, and walkers will need considerable funds to cover all their expenses such as accomodation, food, gear etc. Some walkers we have seen look a bit miserable, while others are having fun and relishing the experience.

While the beach is beautiful, it is a surf beach with lots of sand, and I suspect may get a bit boring after a few hours.

This was our last day of travelling with Tina and John, Kevin and Marg. They were heading south tomorrow while Bruce and I planned to continue north to see Cape Reinga. We will certainly miss them – they have been great to travel with, and hopefully we will get to do another trip with them soon.