Best Beach of the Summer
The kids are finally back in school, and I am finally catching up on my to-do list, which includes posting about our favorite excursion over the holiday. The winner for the best-of-the-holiday is (drumroll, please) Anchor Bay! I mean, what’s not to like about this place?
Anchor Bay is located north of Auckland on the eastern side of the island at the very tip of Tawharanui Regional Park. While Google said it would take just over an hour, we ran into a lot of traffic because there are so many incredible beaches in that part of the world. It ended up taking us almost an hour and forty minutes to make it. Be prepared for traffic! There is one main route, and at one point you have the choice between taking a straight line toll tunnel or a free road that goes around. I noticed the traffic was about half and half on tunnel vs. free road. The toll is NZ$2.30 each way for a normal car and is paid online here.
My biggest complaint about Anchor Bay is the winding road on the way to the park. Unlike other nearby beaches, like the runner-up Omaha Beach, Anchor Bay is not conveniently located right off the main road. It is another 20-30 minutes after turning off the main road before you actually arrive at the destination. I rarely get car sick, and I was starting to feel a bit nauseous the first time we ventured down the road. It was that curvy!
The entrance to Tawharanui Regional Park is an imposing automatic gate. At first I was intimidated by it, but then I realized it wasn’t to keep people out, it was to keep the birds in. It is a protected kiwi habitat, and there are lots of other native birds, like pukeko, wandering around, especially near the lagoon just inside the entrance.
The park is serious about slowing down drivers. The narrow paved road eventually changes to a gravel road. There are barricades that force the road down to one lane from time to time, ensuring that cars regularly stop and let others pass by. It is an effective traffic solution, annoying as it is. Finally, at the end of the gravel road, there is parking. It is a bit hodge-podge, so if you are comfortable getting creative with your parking, you’ll be ok and find a good spot.
Once we arrived, we loaded up our beach buggy with all of our essential gear and headed towards the ocean. We found ourselves on the top of a grassy hill that many families used as a picnicking spot. There was a row of port-a-potties and changing facilities there, too. Now it was like a choose your own adventure book. Would we pick the left, right, or center path down to the sand? Each path was steep in places and had large wooden logs to help give some structural integrity to the sand and help people down. The logs were useful, but meant that we had to carry our buggy down the hill. It was an inconvenience that was totally worth it. When we got down to the sand, it was a stunning, soft while with few shells. There were just enough waves for kid-friendly boogie-boarding, and plenty of space to set up our tent.
To the left of our campsite was a huge rock that the kids loved. It was quite an adventure to scale a “mountain” that high! Beyond the offshoot was a whole other section of beach that was much less populated. That side, which you can see at the beginning of the video clip, had more surfers and adults. To the right of us, the boys found several caves to explore. None of them were particularly deep or scary. They were just right for kids to go on an adventure.
After several hours playing in the sand, boogie boarding, exploring, and eating our picnic lunches, it was time to pack up and go home. Everyone agreed that this was one the highlights of our first New Zealand summer. However, I don’t think we’ll be rushing back. Not because the beach wasn’t spectacular, but because there are so many hidden gems like this dotting the coast. We still have a lot more to visit!
