Adventure Travel New Zealand Style
4 Wheel Driving on Northland's Untamed Wilderness Ninety Mile Beach
Jul 27, 2009
About a five-hour drive from the Auckland airport, Ninety Mile Beach is the country’s northern most stretch of shoreline and classified as an open road. It a little known destination for a great overseas travel adventure.
At Ninety Mile Beach, holidaymakers can enjoy the freedom that comes from being able to drive unimpeded at speeds of up to 100km/hour on an eternity’s length of silken white sand. It's an ultimate 4WD adventure.
While there's been many thousands of people travel Ninety Mile Beach in coach tours over the years, far fewer get to drive the sandy highway for themselves. The coach tourists barely impact on the beach so the coastal environment remains pristine, picture perfect and ripe for exploring.
4 Wheel Driving Ninety Mile Beach
Adventure travel New Zealand style is pretty much to the holidaymaker's own pace and Ninety Mile Beach is no exception although the tide and weather can dictate the timetable.
It is that element of danger - Mother Nature’s looming upper hand – that makes the journey along Ninety Mile Beach such a unique overseas travel adventure.
The coastline is a remote wilderness tamed only by a few settlements at the tail end of the shoreline. (There is a recommended motor camp at the south west settlement of Ahipara.)
Cell phone coverage is virtually nil on the beach so should a motorist become marooned, as has happenned over the years, there is little chance of calling anyone to the rescue. Even if it was possible, help would unlikely be able to beat the next high tide.
Traffic is heaviest in the summer. At other times, the tyre tracks of other vehicles are the only sign that anyone else is on the beach. Locals advise following the tracks left by the coaches to ensure a safe trip.
That said, the sand is generally a sound carriageway. Some motorists have even driven it in ordinary cars, albeit rather unwisely.
For further advice, read Tips for Driving New Zealand's Ninety Mile Beach.
The Naming of Ninety Mile Beach
Despite its name, Ninety Mile Beach is actually only 55 miles (88 kilometres) long.
Missionaries, who took three days to traverse the beach, are blamed for the error having overestimated the distance based on the average daily mileage of their horses. They apparrently failed to take into account the slower pace of their mounts through the sand.
Horses are still a common sight on the beach today. Wild herds roam the dunes and treks regularly depart from Ahipara.
Overseas Travel Adventure has got to Include Fishing!
No overseas travel adventure would be complete without a spot of fishing. Ninety Mile Beach is rich with sea life including the giant Toheroa shellfish, once so abundant that it became a national culinary icon. The species was overfished and is now on the protected list. But massive Toheroa shells can still be found, some as big as discus.
There are no restrictions on collecting the more humble Tuatua shellfish though and it is tasty in its own right.
Ninety Mile Beach is renowned for its rod and reel fishing opportunities. A giant rocky outcrop that suddenly springs from the sand and juts out into deep water is a popular platform. Called The Bluff it was so named because it was often mistaken from afar as the end of the beach.
Again, visitors should take care. Like other parts of the beach, The Bluff can be treacherous. Fishermen have been swept away.
4 Wheel Driving in Te Paki Stream, the Northern Access Route to Ninety Mile Beach
During our trip, the weather was bland and the elements far from threatening. Beach driving proved a synch, however the “beaten track” back to the formed carriageway was a real 4WD adventure.
Te Paki Stream is about the only northern access route and is quite literally a stream. Should the weather suddenly decline, it has the potential to become a downright torrent.
Motorists are advised to shift into low gear and forge steadily ahead. Put the windows up and the wipers on. Getting through the stream requires a lot of dodging about in search of the surest surfaces, which is a process that displaces a lot of water!
Toboggan Riding on the Sand Dunes at Ninety Mile Beach a Real Outdoor Adventure New Zealand Style
Magnificent golden dunes flank the stream. They are most safely viewed from a car park at the carriageway end of the stream. From there visitors can also hire a toboggan should they feel the urge to get more intimately acquainted with the sand.
A toboggan ride on the dunes makes a suitably exhilirating end to a fantastic day’s motoring along New Zealand’s Ninety Mile Beach.
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