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kaitaia
 Kaitaia is New
Zealand’s most northerly service town and the commercial
heart of the Far North. The word Kaitaia means ‘abundance of
food’ in Maori, chosen for the prolific bird life in the
ancient Kauri forests and the plentiful supply of fish and
shellfish along the 90 Mile Beach.
The town is the starting point for coach tours along the beach to
Cape Reinga, and is an excellent base for day outings in the
area. The visitor centre is on South Road and the nearby Far
North Regional Museum is well worth a visit.
The 90 Mile is undoubtedly New Zealand’s most famous beach,
although it is actually nearer to 90 kilometres in length. At low
tide a broad swathe of sand as compact as concrete stretches to
infinity disappearing into a mirage-like vision of summer heat
haze mingled with salty mist.
Walking on the sand between the pounding breakers and the golden
dunes you sometimes get the feeling that you are absolutely alone
in the world. At other times the beach is like a frantic
free-for-all on an urban expressway as the regular sightseeing
coaches hurtle past in a curtain of spray. The beach is
breathtaking in its unspoilt natural beauty although in 1869, as
Captain Cook sailed past the all-devouring sand dunes, he dubbed
it the ‘Desert Coast’.
From Kaitaia there are two main gateways to the 90 Mile Beach.
Waipapakauri, to the north, is the base for the
‘world’s biggest surf-fishing contest’ each
January when one thousand avid fishing enthusiasts clad in
wetsuits or oilskins, stoically face the foaming fury of the
Tasman Sea demanding a portion of the sea’s harvest.
Ahipara, just 14 kilometres south of Kaitaia is a ‘must
see’ holiday haven and adventure centre at the southernmost
tip of the beach. Four-wheel drive safaris and quad motorbike
trips around the coastline and up into the sand hills are a
speciality here. Once you have got a taste of the action
there’s land yachting, tobogganing, hang-gliding and horse
riding to follow, along with surfing, fishing and shellfish
gathering.
Above Shipwreck Bay a gravel road winds up to the Gumfields
Historic Reserve - a scrub covered wasteland. One dilapidated
shop remains, in this ghost town, crammed with the paraphernalia
of that era, including the iron rods that once probed for the
amber blobs of kauri resin. The hard working Dalmatian diggers
would not have had time to indulge in the many pleasures Ahipara
offers today.
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