Ripiro Beach
At 100 kilometres, Ripiro Beach is New Zealand's longest driveable beach, claiming 11 kilometres more than "Ninety Mile" beach.
Stretching from the Maunganui Bluff in the north to Pouto Point at the entrance to the Kaipara Harbour, it offers smooth golden sands bordered by colourful sandstone cliffs in the north, giving way to windswept sand dunes in the south.
The whole length is officially classes as a highway and is driveable a low tide. However 4WD is recommended and drivers need to be aware of the state of the tide and of potential rust problems caused by the salt.
Beach activities range from swimming, where care should be exercised particularly on outgoing tides, surfing, cliff climbing and excellent fishing - surfcasting, netting mullet or spearing flounder.
Updraft from the sandstone cliffs has made Baylys Beach, in particular, a popular venue for hang gliders and paragliders, which the unbroken expanse of beach is well suited to sand yachting.
Access is available at Baylys Beach and Glinks Gully (cars and 4WD), Maunganui Bluff, Omamari, Mahuta gap and Pouto (4WD).
Baylys Beach is the largest settlement, featuring a mix of permanent residences and holiday homes, plus two stores with cafe style restaurants and a motor camp. An 18 hole golf course is one kilometre away.
Maunganui Bluff, a 450 metre tall remnant of a chain of volcanoes that ran from Hokianga to Auckland, rises sheer from the sea and makes an impressive landmark from almost anywhere on the beach. A hour's climb to the summit offers superb views over the length of Ripiro Beach to the south, and the wilder northern coastline.
An hours climb to the summit, takes in cliff tops, bush and farmland, and offers superb views over the length of Ripiro Beach to the south and the wilder northern coastline.
Maunganui Bluff also offers rock fishing and excellent mussel rocks.
In the past Ripiro Beach was famous for the hordes that desended to gather toheroa during progressively shorter seasons until their depredations forced a total ban on taking the delicacy.
At Three Mile Stream, south of Glinks Gully, a commercial toheroa shelling operation continued for many years, with the shelled toheroa carted over the hills to a canning factory on the Wairoa River.