Shipwrecks – NZShortWalks

Walk #132, 4th May 2024

Kai Iwi Lakes are three freshwater dune lakes, Lake Taharoa, Lake Kaiiwi, and Lake Waikare. The walk is around Lake Taharoa, the largest lake, where water the colour of sapphire ringed with aquamarine laps at the beaches of fine white sand. It’s a popular place to camp. The jewel in the setting is the lake, while the surrounding land is a bit ho-hum. It was a lovely spot fringed with big trees, but the trees were removed for some reason. It now looks a bit barren.

We got there in late afternoon and it started raining so the lake isn’t shown at it’s best. We got half way around Lake Taharoa when we decided to call it a day and go to the Kaihu Tavern.

Here’s a photo taken on an earlier visit in early spring, 2020 which shows the amazing colour of the lake.

Lake Taharoa, the largest of Kai Iwi Lakes

Walk: Northland 28

Kai Iwi Lakes Coastal Track

I recommend this walk across paddocks to Ripiro Beach, which we did in September 2020. It was more interesting although it’s across farmland so you would have to watch for bulls, cows, bogs and electric fences. We came out at a little waterfall on the beach.

Ripiro Beach

Ripiro Beach is at 107 km (66 miles) long it is the longest driveable beach in New Zealand, longer than the more famous, but erroneously named Ninety Mile Beach further north.

It is called ‘the shipwreck highway.’ The difficulty early mariners had navigating the coastline and finding entrance to the Kaipara Harbour to the south are evident to any visitor; there are no landmarks, and there were no lighthouses until the one at Pouto was built. Studies of a confirmed 113 shipwrecks and other suspected wrecks have brought social information to light with potential impacts on the known history of New Zealand. Some are found in shallow water, some are buried in dunes which are now inland in an area known as ‘Valley of the wrecks’ and “The graveyard”. Vague stories of ships full of white men wrecked and then eaten on this coast before and after the time of Abel Tasman may yet be confirmed. Source: Places NZ, Ripiro Beach – Shipwreck Highway