An iconic piece of Northland's coastline renowned for its world-class surf breaks is up for sale.
More than 400 hectares of rolling farm land at Tauroa Point in the Far North will be put up for tender on Friday following its owners' decision to invest in "cash-based" businesses.
The coast at Tauroa
Point, on the bottom of Ninety Mile Beach, is special to Maori as their ancestors from Hawaiiki landed there, and to surfers worldwide for providing one of the longest rides in the world.
The farm, said to be worth at least $3million, is bounded by coast on three sides and is accessible only from the beach, making it one of New Zealand's untouched coastal gems.
And that's the way its owner Ian Walker, who is also the Northland Federated Farmers president, wants it to stay.
"It's been a very, very difficult decision to make because the property is iconic and unique. I wouldn't like to see it turned into some kind of high rise development ... I'd like to see it retained for its intrinsic value," Mr Walker said.
He had "no idea" how much the land could sell for but his land agent, Allan Myers, said anyone with over $3million could afford to buy it.
Mr Walker's wife's family (the Matthews) bought the farm more than 50 years ago and had turned it from a sheep station "wasteland" to a ranch-style cattle farm. It only has four paddocks and the hilly terrain requires mustering on horse back.
He said while it would be sad to sell the farm, he and his wife Anne wanted to invest in businesses that were more cash-based.
Every year Mr Walker said his farm's coastline was "littered" with surfers from all around the globe who wanted to ride the famous left-hand breaking waves.
The surf beach is so well known it was in the iconic 1960s surfing movie Endless Summer, which profiled great surf beaches around the globe.
Local iwi Te Rarawa did not want to comment on the sale until it knew the details of what was up for tender. Advertisements for the sale are only being published in New Zealand and tenders close on November 11.
