Driving down the secluded gravel road to Newdicks Beach, you get the feeling that something amazing awaits. The palm-fringed road winds down toward a beach you can't see until you reach the end.
When you arrive you'll see the point in going that extra mile just to go to the beach
- Newdicks Beach is this stunning landscape that ticks just about every box.
This place feels like the real New Zealand - it's rough, raw and untouched. On the day we visited - a searingly hot day - there were only four or five people there, dotted along the great expanse of white sand.
Newdicks Beach is incredibly underdeveloped. There are no amenities, certainly no toilets, and barely even a trace of human inhabitance. A lone park bench stands at the far end of the parking area and a couple of signs about dune preservation are all that remind us people have been here.
The beach itself is a playground for all - at one end is a gentle stream leading down towards the surf, for children and toddlers to splash about in.
The surf is impressive, not to mention beautiful, and a great place for swimmers and surfers to duck-dive through the waves.
The scenery is endless. A mammoth boulder sits on the beach, tossed from the cliff face years earlier. A lone tree provides a smattering of shade at the beach's edge. The cliffs rise up behind the beach, providing a backdrop worthy of Hollywood movies.
Newdicks Beach is not just around the corner for most - a good half-hour journey from central Tauranga - but it sure is worth it for a day trip.
There is a fee of $3 to take a car down the private road which, according to the sign, pays for rates and maintenance for the access road. The road is open daily in summer, 6am to 6.30pm.
NEED TO KNOW:
Where is Newdicks Beach? At the end of Newdicks Beach Rd in Maketu, down a privately owned road which is open to the public for a fee.
Public toilets: Nil.
Parking: Ample, right on the beach.
Closest ice-creams: Nowhere in sight, you'll need to drive.
Liquor laws: None.
