I spent a lot of my vacation at Pakiri Beach, north of Auckland. It’s one of my favorite places – a long (about 9km / 5.5 miles) white sandy beach north of Leigh, facing the Hen and Chicken Islands which are around 20km offshore. It’s a bit off the beaten track – an hour and a half from Auckland, and accessible from the south via a steep, winding gravel road. In summer it is fairly popular, but most people stay within about a quarter mile stretch at the southern end of the beach. And even there it’s not crowded at all. So it’s a great place to get away from it all. It’s a good place to swim and it has fairly gentle surf which attracts a few board riders.
These photos were taken on several different days, most of which were beautiful. I did take a trip up there on one day when it was cloudy and windy, but even then it’s a great place to be.
There are steep hills a couple of miles back from the beach that give a nice view of the surrounding area. The first shot shows Hen Island in the distance, while the second looks further north towards Whangarei Heads.
The beach -
There is a cricket pitch over the road from the beach. On this particular day there happened to be a game going on.
A gloomier day -
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