Ruapuke

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For the island in southern New Zealand, see Ruapuke Island

Ruapuke is found in the Waikato region on the slopes of rocky mountains, between Raglan and Kawhia. Ruapuke is made up of a small farming community in New Zealand, and comprises a handful of families some of whom have lived there for many generations. The residents, predominantly sheep and cattle farmers, all traverse Ruapuke Rd, a long dusty windy gravel road that begins in Te Mata and ends at Raglan. Ruapuke road is often used for rally car competition and winds it's way around the slopping wind exposed farmlands on Mt Kariori.

On a fine winter's day residents on the southern slopes of Mt. Kariori can look across Aotea Harbour at hundreds of miles of rugged, uninhabited and pristine coastline, at where the snow capped peak of Mt. Taranaki dominantly protrudes high over the horizon.

This isolated Ruapuke farming district, slopes obtrusively away from the East where it falls towards the sea to the open coastline of New Zealand's North Island west coast. There one discovers the coarse black sands of rugged Ruapuke beach which until recent times, (1990's), has remained a best kept secret known only to local residents and to a small elite group of keen surfing and surfcasting fishing enthusiasts. Unless one possesses local knowledge, one can not find the secluded access through to the southern end of this isolated beach. The resident surfing community knows that if Raglan's Manu Bay's surf break is flat, then Ruapuke beach is sure to be pumping surf big-time!

International surfing competitions such as the Billabong (clothing) Pro and the Rip Curl Pro are now held at Ruapuke beach, providing conditions oblige.

Ruapuke can be reached through Whaanga Rd Raglan, down a 45 klm drive through winding mountainous terrain, small gorges, dust and gravel. One can also reach Ruapuke from the eastern side of Mt Kariori by taking the Ruapuke Rd turn off just before the Te Mata school.