Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
POP 1130
All good things must come to an end, and Ninety Mile Beach does at this spunky beach
town. A few holiday mansions have snuck in, but mostly it's just the locals keeping it
real, rubbing shoulders with visiting surfers.
The area is known for its huge sand dunes and massive gum field, where 2000 people
once worked. Sandboarding and quad-bike rides are popular activities on the dunes
above Ahipara and further around the Tauroa Peninsula.
Sights
Shipwreck Bay
BEACH
(Wreck Bay Rd)
The best surfing is at this small cove at Ahipara's western edge, so named
for shipwrecks still visible at low tide.
Ahipara Viewpoint
LOOKOUT
(Gumfields Rd)
This lookout on the bluff behind Ahipara is reached by an extremely rough
road leading off the unsealed Gumfields Rd, which starts at the western end of Foreshore
Dr.
Activities
Ahipara Adventure Centre
ADVENTURE SPORTS
( 09-409 2055;
www.ahiparaadventure.co.nz
; 15 Takahe St)
Hires sand toboggans ($10 per
half day), surfboards ($30 per half day), mountain bikes ($50 per day), kayaks ($25 per
hour), blokarts for sand yachting ($65 per hour) and quad bikes ($95 per hour).
Tua Tua Tours
QUAD BIKES
( 0800 494 288;
www.ahipara.co.nz/tuatuatours
; 250 Ahipara Rd; s/d rides from $100/110)
Reef- and dune-rider tours, plus the Gumfields Safari (per one/two people $175/185),
three hours that includes sand tobogganing.
NZ Surf Bros
SURFING
( 09-945 7276;
www.nzsurfbros.com
; 27 Kaka St; surf lessons $60, paddle boarding $60-100)
Based in a cool house with amazing views of the surf, NZ Surf Bros offer surfing and
paddle-boarding lessons, plus day excursions and multiday trips that take in beaches on
both the west and east coasts of Northland.
