Ninety Mile Beach
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Ninety Mile Beach
   
Ninety Mile Beach (Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē in Māori) is a beach on the western coast of the far north of the North Island. It stretches from just west of the town of Kaitaia towards Cape Reinga along the Aupouri Peninsula. It begins close to the headland of Reef Point, to the west of Ahipara Bay, sweeping briefly northeast before turning northwest for the majority of its length. It ends at Scott Point, three miles south of Cape Maria van Diemen.
Etymology: The name Ninety Mile Beach is a misnomer because it’s actually fifty five miles long. Several theories have been put forward - the most widely accepted comes from the days when missionaries travelled on horseback. It was reckoned that an average horse could travel thirty miles in a day before needing to be rested. The beach took three days to travel therefore must be ninety miles, but the missionaries didn’t take into account the slower pace of horses walking in sand. The beach's Maori name Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē will be officially recognised as part of the government's Treaty settlement with Te Aupōuri iwi, who will also take part in the management of the beach.
In 1932, Ninety Mile
Beach was used as the runway
for some of the earliest airmail
services between Australia and New Zealand. It is officially a public highway
and sometimes used as an alternative road to State Highway
1 north of Kaitaia, though mainly for tourist reasons, or
when the main road is closed due to landslides or floods.
The beach, and specifically its northern dunes, is a
famous tourist destination.
 The dunes, look very much
like a desert landscape, you can blink and tell yourself you are in the Sahara
Desert. A very unexpected sight, especially like us, arriving from the landward
side.
 The edge of a dune by the Te Paki
Stream.
 Just miles and miles of
sand.
 A car sunk
in a stream, would be a one careful owner but no
foliage. Apparently this is not a rare sight, this happens to
several cars a year. In
2013, Jeremy Clarkson of Top
Gear
drove the length of the beach in a Toyota
Corolla as part of a race against a AC45 Racing
Yacht occupied by James May.
 Wow. Something we just didn't expect to see – so much sand.
ALL IN ALL WHAT A SURPRISE WHAT A BEACH |
