Best Beach 2023: Bree Tomasel and Jayden Daniels reveal their favourite summer spots

Bree Tomasel and Jayden Daniels are the new presenting team for Treasure Island: Fans v Faves, coming soon to TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+. We asked them to share their favourite beaches around the country. To find out how to nominate your favourite spots in the Herald’s Best Beach campaign, scroll to the bottom of the page.

What is your favourite family-friendly beach in New Zealand?

Bree Tomasel: My partner’s family have a bach in Hahei and it’s just the most incredible beach in New Zealand. You feel like you’re in Thailand or Vietnam, or something, it’s just incredible. You can take your dogs on the beach - except for certain periods of the year - which I’m a big fan of. But it’s just a beautiful family-friendly beach, and I’ve spent a lot of time there and I just adore it.

Jayden Daniels: I’ve got two. My first one is Island Bay Beach in Wellington, and that’s because Island Bay is where I grew up, so it’s nostalgic for me. We used to have heaps of activities there growing up. There was a big dig, and we used to have a fair at the park next to it. Heaps of good childhood memories from there. But currently, and the one I take my family to most, is Narrow Neck beach over in Devonport. I just love how it’s got the cafe there. There’s a playground but also, I go fishing so I can take the kayak there, and we can spend the whole day there.

What’s your favourite city beach in New Zealand?

Bree: This is quite a new discovery in the last 12 months, but Kakamatua Beach in Auckland is an incredible beach to take your dogs. I’m a big dog person, and my dogs absolutely adore going out there. It’s an off-leash dog beach, and there’s just so many dogs there, and they’re all just living their best life. It is just a good vibe, because it makes you so happy, seeing your dogs happy.

Jayden: Oriental Bay Beach down in Wellington. That’s nostalgic for me as well. Growing up with friends, we would go to town, and then would go to the beach and there’d be heaps of our wider friend circle there that we would meet up with. And then there was a section off near the beginning of the beach on the town side – there was a tug boat restaurant, we used to just call it Tug Boat - and we’d go there off the wharf, and do bombs off the wharf or climb up the tug boat and do the same there.

Muriwai is Treasure Island: Fans v Faves host Jayden Daniels' favourite surf beach. But what's yours? Photo / Chris McLennan

Do you have a favourite surf beach in New Zealand?

Bree: As an Aussie, I wish I could say I was a surfer. I have tried countless times. But I think, probably, if I was to try surfing, Piha Beach - you can’t go past it. And for me as an Aussie, the first time I went to Piha Beach - a black sand beach? I’d never seen it before. It’s truly incredible. I couldn’t understand what a black sand beach would look like. And then when I went out there I was like, this is just amazing.

Jayden: I’m not a surfer, but my favourite surf beach would be Muriwai Beach. I can drive my truck down the beach, and we can find a private spot and I’ll surf cast off the beach, and we can have a barbecue there and set up an area for the kids to play.

What’s your favourite camping beach in New Zealand?

Bree: The place that I’ve camped at probably the most is Hot Water Beach, which is right near Hahei but that beach just in general is another thing that I had never seen before. Like you go out there and you dig a hole, and you can sit in it, and it’s like a hot tub. It’s ridiculously incredible to see.

Jayden: I do like camping but I’ve never been camping on a beach. So if anyone has any recommendations that I could try this summer, I’d love that. I would normally go camping in Kaitoke which is out in the Hutt in Wellington, but that’s got a river through it and some swimming holes and stuff, but it’s a camping ground. And then my backyard.

Bree Tomasel and Sophia Gould with their dogs Meryl Streep and Whitney Houston at Hot Water Beach in the Coromandel. Photo / Supplied

What’s your favourite hidden gem beach in New Zealand?

Bree: It’s where we filmed Celebrity Treasure Island, which is way up north. Shout out to Pukenui because that place is just something that I’d never really experienced before. We got obviously A-grade treatment because we got to film Treasure Island on a private farm. But on that private farm were these incredible private beaches where - you would have seen on the show - where the contestants actually lived. And when we went into lockdown I was able to go out there and have swims on these private beaches on these farms, which I just couldn’t even comprehend. Because I grew up on an apple farm in country Queensland and I’ll tell you something for free, we definitely didn’t have private beaches that were on the farm. It was just the most amazing thing, like every time I go there I’m just kind of like, wow, to be able to live here and farm on such an incredible piece of land is just amazing to me. They have got the goods up north.

Jayden: Kaiteriteri. I’m not 100 per cent sure how secret or hidden it is, but it’s beautiful, at the top of the South island. One of my marae is down in Motueka, so when we go down there it’s just a short drive around, and then yeah, the beach is beautiful.

Nominate New Zealand’s Best Beach

The Herald is searching for New Zealand’s Best Beach 2023 and we need your help.

The Best Beach series runs through January and it starts with you. We want you to nominate your favourite beaches from around the country in these five categories:

• Best Family Beach
• Best Surf Beach
• Best City Beach
• Best Camping Beach
• Best Hidden Gem

You can nominate one contender in each category and tell us a little bit about why you think they deserve to win. You can also send us a favourite photo of you and your whānau enjoying these great summer spots.

Nominations are open until the end of Sunday, January 8. From there, your entries will be counted and the 10 most popular nominees in each of the five categories will be named as our finalists. You will then be able to vote for the ultimate winners in each category, which will be crowned at the end of the month. To find the form and read more Best Beach stories, go to nzherald.co.nz/bestbeach