Ninety Mile Beach, New Zealand

NASA satellite photo of the Aupouri Peninsula and Ninety Mile Beach.
Location of Ninety Mile Beach.

Ninety Mile Beach, official name Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē/Ninety Mile Beach,[1] is on the western coast of the far north of the North Island of New Zealand.[2] It stretches from just west 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, 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Cape Maria van Diemen. It is actually just 88 kilometers long.

Bodyboarding down the sand on Ninety Mile Beach is a popular tourist attraction.
A car sunk in a stream on the Ninety Mile Beach

The beach and its northern dunes are a tourist destination. The dunes, looking much like a desert landscape, are often used for bodyboarding.

In 1932 the beach was used as the runway for some of the earliest airmail services between Australia and New Zealand. It is officially a public highway[3] 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.

In a 2013 feature for TV show Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson drove the length of the beach in a Toyota Corolla[4] as part of a race against an AC45 racing yacht with a crew that included James May.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Deed Of Settlement, Ngati Kuri and the Crown. Retrieved 10 February 2014
  2. ↑ "Iwi deal to co-manage 90 Mile Beach". The New Zealand Herald. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Ninety Mile Beach". Tourism New Zealand.
  4. ↑ "Jeremy Clarkson praises NZ as holy land fit for Son of God". TVNZ ONE NEWS.
  5. ↑ "Top Gear series 20". BBC.
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Coordinates: 34°43′S 172°56′E / 34.717°S 172.933°E