PICS: Beach the place to be to beat the heat in Northland

Guarding the public over the Anniversary Weekend at Ruakākā Beach were lifeguards Max Woolhouse, Andrew Forsythe, Rose Linton and Craig Platt.

With temperatures hovering around the 30C mark in Northland this week - due to the Australian heatwave spreading its scorching fingers to this side of the Tasman - many people are looking at ways to beat the heat.

On Monday it seemed one of the most popular places to go was the beach, with thousands descending on the region's coast.

Northern Advocate photographer Michael Cunningham went along to Ruakākā Beach to see how people were coping.

Miriam Gavin was learning to surf as a cool way to beat the heat at Ruakākā.

Carter Hughes, 5, from One Tree Point has a cooling body board in the surf.

Jude Sutton, 6, stays cool in the shallows.

Jeremy Sutton donned his hat for a day at the beach.