SURF NORTHLAND WEST COAST SURFING
Taranaki The New Zealand Surf Capital
New Zealand Surf Introduction
The Tasman
Sea - endless lines of waves stacked to the horizon. When southerly
winds are pushing up the swells, the place to be is Shipwreck Bay,
Ahipara (16 kms west of Kaitaia). This surfing icon at the southern
tip of the famous Ninety Mile Beach has one of New Zealand’s
many word class left-hand point breaks. It was featured in the ground
breaking 1960’s surf movie ‘The Endless Summer’,
and has never looked back since then as a popular surfing venue.
The bay performs well on all tides and given big swells
Mukerau Beach is 2 kms west of Shipwreck Bay and offers waves, which
are usually twice as big. You can pull off kilometre long rides.
From Mukerau Beach the west coast stretches over 200 kms down to
the Kaipara Harbour with most uncharted beach breaks awaiting exploration.
Access can be difficult to these untouched bays and headlands and
often requires permission to cross farmland.
Half way up the Ninety Mile Beach is a prominent reef called The
Bluff (64 kms from Awanui), which has fantastic beach breaks on
both sides. The prevailing south swells produce the best waves on
the north side around mid tide. Entry off the outer rocks needs
care, as there are numerous rips. Camping is available but access
from the beach to the campsite and inland to Te Kao is via a soft
sand track only negotiable by 4WD vehicles. If you have time cruise
up to Scott Point for some challenging beach and point breaks.
At Cape Reinga view the spectacular merging of the Tasman Sea and
the Pacific Ocean. beach breaks exist at Spirits Bay and Tapotupotu
Bay where camping is permitted. As each summer day dawns you will
hear the sweet music of white water