Northland's surf beaches patrolled again from this weekend

Northland surf beaches at Whangārei Heads, Ruakākā, above, Waipū, Mangawhai and Ahipara will be patrolled by volunteer surf lifeguards from this weekend until next Easter.

Northland's surf beaches will have some extra safety protection from this weekend with volunteer lifeguards set to start patrolling five beaches across the region from Saturday.

Volunteer lifeguards will be on duty on weekends across the region from this weekend until Easter to 2019. The beaches patrolled by the volunteers are Ocean Beach at Whangārei Heads, Ruakākā, Waipū, Mangawhai and Ahipara.

All five beaches, along with Baylys Beach, will be patrolled during the week by professional lifeguards from the Christmas Holidays through to the end of Auckland's Anniversary Weekend.

Matapouri Beach has been patrolled in some previous years, but will not be this summer.

"Beaches will be patrolled at the weekend between now and Easter 2019, while weekday patrols will also operate over the summer high season, from the start of the Christmas holiday break through to the end of Auckland's Anniversary Weekend," a Surf Lifesaving Northern Region spokesman said.

Labour Weekend is the unofficial start to summer in Northland and when people start flocking to the region's beaches.

And the weather is expected to be pretty fine over the weekend in Northland, which will make the beaches even more attractive.

The forecast is for Saturday to start cloudy then clear up to be fine during the day. The same is forecast for Sunday while Monday is expected to be sunny all day and the temperatures are forecast to hit 22C.

Paid lifeguards will start patrolling the following beaches from:
Far North (Ahipara): 24/12/2018 – 18/01/2019
Whangārei (Ocean Beach): 24/12/2018 – 25/01/2019
Ruakākā: 17/12/2018 – 01/02/2019
Waipū: 17/12/2018 – 01/02/2019
Mangawhai: 17/12/2018 – 01/02/2019
Baylys Beach: 22/12/2018 – 11/01/2019