The richness of our lands and waters north of Tāmaki

From Auckland all the way up to Cape Reinga, there is a beautiful cavalcade of bays and harbours.

There are two roads that lead north from Tāmaki-Makau-Rau. One starts crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge from Saint Mary's Bay/Herne Bay to the North Shore. The other starts on the northwestern motorway, skirting the southern bays of the inner Waitematā and heading towards Kumeu.

The east coast from Tāmaki to the Bay of Islands

The eastern road goes through the small towns of Warkworth and Wellsford. Tāwharanui is an extremely beautiful bay and camping area. Omaha is a luscious great bay with an inner natural harbour at the northern end. North of Omaha is Goat Island Marine Park, which offers great snorkelling.

The next popular coastline you come to on the northeastern road is Lang's Beach and Waipu Cove. Out in the ocean you can see the extraordinarily beautiful Hen and Chickens Islands.

After Waipu the coast is one long beach called Bream Bay, which stretches and stretches up to Whangarei. Whangarei Harbour is just south of the Whangarei Heads.

Past the Whangarei Heads, you come to Tutukaka and Whananaki. These beautiful beaches look out on the Poor Knights Islands. The Poor Knights Islands are a special marine reserve. The snorkelling opportunity is outstanding.

Beyond lies the Bay of Islands.

The west coast from Tāmaki to the Bay of Islands

The west coast is quite different. The western side of the Waitakere Ranges slopes down to black sand beaches. These beaches are much less sheltered than those on the eastern side of the island and have crashing surf. The northern lip of the Manukau Harbour is the beginning of Whatipu Beach. Beyond Whatipu lies Karekare, Piha, White's Beach, Anawhata, Bethells Beach and Muriwai, where a big gannet colony seasonally lives on the sea cliffs.

North of the Waitakere Ranges lies the Kaipara Harbour. This harbour is now quiet, but both Māori and European settlers settled here in days gone by.

The Bay of Islands

The Bay of Islands on the east coast was the site of the largest early European settlement in New Zealand. These early New Zealand immigrants had significant contact with the northern Māori tribe of Ngā Puhi. The most famous sites are Waitangi, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6 February 1840, and Russell, which was a den of iniquity for lawless sailors and whalers in early colonial New Zealand.

The far north

On the western side of the island lies the Hokianga Harbour. Indeed a spiritual place for Māori, it has a small permanent population at Rawene, extraordinary dunes on its northern side and a great state forest on the southern side.

North of the populous town of Kerikeri, there are gorgeous secluded bays like Matauri Bay and Maungonui.

Come to the town of Kaitaia and you enter the last narrow strip of land with a completely different feel, in terms of both human life and nature. The east coast beaches are stunning. Henderson Bay and Rarawa have the whitest sand and the most perfect waves in New Zealand.

At the tip of New Zealand, on the eastern side is Tapotupotu Beach and on the western side is Cape Maria van Diemen. Cape Reinga is the furthest north you can go on the New Zealand mainland. A small lone pōhutukawa grows on an outcrop at the bottom of the cliffs. It is said that the souls of the dead pass through this pōhutukawa on their return journey to Hawaiki. The west coast is dominated by Ninety-Mile Beach.

Whatungarongaro te tangata toitū te whenua