Over the last few weeks, you’ve been nominating your favourite beaches around the country and now, we can reveal the top 10 finalists in each category. Scroll down to find the full list and how to vote at the end of this story.
“Very early morning. The sun was not yet risen, and the whole of Crescent Bay was hidden under a white sea-mist. The big bush-covered hills at the back were smothered. You could not see where they ended and the paddocks and bungalows began. The sandy road was gone and the paddocks and bungalows the other side of it; there were no white dunes covered with reddish grass beyond them; there was nothing to mark which was beach and which was the sea.”
Oh dear. It sounds as if the Kiwi summer at the beach in 1921 was rather like much of 2023′s summer at the beach, at least for Katherine Mansfield and her family.
She was writing about Eastbourne, on Wellington Harbour, but the place really doesn’t matter; the sparse prose of her masterpiece, At the Bay, describes just about any beach in Aotearoa at any time since Kuramārōtini, Kupe’s wife, peered from a waka and spotted the big bush-covered hills and sandy bays beneath a long, white cloud.
Unfortunately for both Mansfield and Kuramārōtini, the Herald didn’t see fit to run a vote for New Zealand’s Best Beach in their days. However, we’ve put that to rights in 2023, and we want you to vote for your favourite beach and beachy places in five categories.
You’ll find a link to the easy form at the bottom of this page, or go to nzherald.co.nz/bestbeach now.
For 1000 years, beaches have been at the centre of Kiwi life, no matter when or from where your family arrived, or what culture they and you brought to enrich these shores.
A day at a city beach with bistros and icecream parlours just across the road, a fortnight under canvas at some remote cove miles from Wi-Fi or cellphone reception, clambering to rock pools to hunt for starfish with a granddaughter, eyeing up the ultimate surfing break . . . the perfect day at a Kiwi beach means something different to everyone.
It is as we found when we asked well-known names to share their memories, which we’ve published over the past couple of weeks. For Elisabeth Easther, it was taking a break on the sands of Te Tai Tokerau after filming Shortland Street, where an encounter led to her most treasured taonga; for Jesse Mulligan, it was returning to the place his father took him, with his own kids. Any other dads been here?
“I was never much of a beach boy, to be honest, but as a father, I feel an obligation to look as though I’m enjoying myself so my own four children don’t turn out like me - reading books in the car while their peer group learns to surf. So I frolic in the waves, an uptight middle-aged man doing his best impression of carefree fun, and I’ve been pretending so long now I’ve almost convinced myself.
“My kids catch the vibe and run into the water after me - them splashing each other and diving for pipi, me with a frozen grin bobbing up and down secretly thinking about what I’ll get out next from the library.”
White-sand lovers, Dai Henwood is your man. “I’ve always been a west coast guy [but] Matarangi is a white-sand beach on the east coast. About six or seven years ago, we went down there to stay with friends. I’m used to really big surf beaches but Matarangi has small waves.
“For me, it typifies a family base, where you can sit on the beach and your kids can go in the water. There’s a bit of surf for them to have fun with and it always makes me think of family summertime.”
Real surf calls Josh Thomson: “If we’re feeling adventurous, our favourite place to go is Muriwai, out in West Auckland. One time we went kite-fishing with my dad. We didn’t think it would work, but then we pulled in a bunch of snapper and it was a great day.”
Liz Stokes of The Beths recognises there’s more to a great beach than dropping your towel on the sand and going for a swim. She chose Ōhiwa in the Bay of Plenty as her hidden gem.
“It’s not great for swimming – the waves are big and it’s a bit rippy, so it’s maybe a bit dangerous - but it’s really nice to walk along and the holiday park’s really nice and there’s a bay on the inland side if you want to go kayaking or sailing.
“I really like it down in Ōhiwa. You can walk up to the top of the pā, and there’s a glow worm bit in the bush, which I never reach.
“I always say I’m going to go to it every time we go down and then it’s too scary. We’ll get halfway there and then I’ll be like, No, I’m not going into the bush at night. I’m a city kid, but I do like trying and I’ll try again next time.”
Brave man is Tourism Minister Stuart Nash. He’s the three-time MP for Hawke’s Bay, which has – ahem – more than its fair share of decent beaches, but when we asked where he’d go camping, he spruiked Kaiteriteri, 90 minutes north of Nelson, several hundred kilometres south of his voters.
“It’s got everything. It’s got pōhutukawa trees, it’s reasonably safe. But the thing I love about that beach and the campground there is they’re into regenerative tourism and they understand that tourism is there to serve the community, and everyone is better if tourism is done really, really well. It’s quintessential Kiwi. I love it.”
And when we think of great EnZed beaches, we think of the Mount’s golden sands, Piha’s black sands, Tahunanui or Kaiteriteri and their white sands. We also think – or try to, apart from this summer – of warmth, and sun.
So a hat-tip to Six60′s Chris Mac, who did his best to convince us that Southland should be counted among New Zealand’s summer hot spots.
“It’s the first place my mind wanders to when I think of a perfect beach. I’d almost go as far as to say that if you haven’t spent a sun-drenched day in Curio Bay then you haven’t ever really, truly, New Zealanded.
“There are surf breaks, which I have been reliably told are excellent for all levels of surfer. I, however, have an impressive lack of ability in that arena so am more of an observer and/or swimmer. When swimming at Curio Bay you can be incredibly rewarded with the presence of playful dolphins, who seemingly have an insatiable desire to hang out and swim with all their visiting human friends.
“The most impressive attraction is that the bay also boasts a 180-million-year-old Jurassic fossil forest. It’s truly mind-boggling to think you’re standing on such an incredible environmental piece of history. You’ll want to be there at low tide to see the most of these preserved logs and tree stumps.”
Thanks for that, Chris. If the organisers decide to include a Best Jurassic Park Experience Beach category in next year’s competition, we’ll be sure to contact you.
Now it’s over to you – because let’s face it, everyday Kiwis are the people who decide what’s a great beach, or surf spot, or campsite.
Here are the finalists in our Best Beach 2023 competition, as voted by the public. Check them out, feel free to agree / disagree / feel aggrieved that your favourite place didn’t make the shortlist, and then follow the instructions below to vote!
PS: Sorry, Katherine. Eastbourne didn’t make the cut for Best City Beach. You need to send us a more upbeat email next year.
Use the drop-down menus on this easy form to vote for your favourites in each category.
Voting closes at 11.59pm on Sunday, January 22. The 2023 Best Beaches winners will be announced on Sunday, January 29.
Check out the New Zealand Herald from Monday to Friday this week for profiles on each of the finalists.
Hahei, Coromandel
Kaiteriteri, Nelson Tasman
Long Bay, Auckland
Matapōuri, Northland
Matarangi, Coromandel
Mt Maunganui, Bay of Plenty
Ōhope, Bay of Plenty
Ōrewa, Auckland
Waihī Beach, Bay of Plenty
Whangamatā, Coromandel
Cheltenham Beach, Auckland
Kohimarama, Auckland
Long Bay, Auckland
Mairangi Bay, Auckland
Mission Bay, Auckland
Ōrewa, Auckland
Oriental Bay, Wellington
St Clair, Dunedin
Tahunanui, Nelson
Takapuna Beach, Auckland
Manu Bay, Raglan, Waikato
Mt Maunganui, Bay of Plenty
Muriwai, Auckland
Ōhope, Bay of Plenty
Piha, Auckland
Sandy Bay, Tūtūkākā, Northland
St Clair, Dunedin
Waihī Beach, Bay of Plenty
Wainui, Gisborne
Whangamatā, Coromandel
Hahei, Coromandel
Kaiteriteri, Nelson
Maitai Bay, Northland
Mt Maunganui, Bay of Plenty
Ōhope, Bay of Plenty
Tāwharanui, Auckland
Tōtaranui, Abel Tasman National Park, Nelson
Waihī Beach, Bay of Plenty
Waipū Cove, Northland
Whangamatā, Coromandel
Forestry Beach, Te Arai, Auckland
Maitai Bay, Northland
Orokawa Bay, near Waihī Beach, Coromandel
Otarawairere Bay, near Ōhope, Bay of Plenty
Pokohino Beach, Onemana, Coromandel
Taupō Bay, Northland
Tunnel Beach, Dunedin
Wainuiototo Bay (New Chums Beach), Coromandel
Whale Bay, Tūtūkākā, Northland
Whiritoa Beach, Coromandel
Story excerpts attained from At The Bay, Katherine Mansfield Society
This suburb is skipped in favour of flashier spots, but shouldn't be discounted.