Te Paki Sand Dunes

The Te Paki dunes near the top of the North Island are a large field of bare sand, some of it well over a hundred metres high, formed where sand blown off the west coast has piled against the hills. Sandboarding here is the activity: boards are hired from a van at the car park, you walk up a face - which is much harder than it looks, in soft sand, in the sun - and slide down head-first on a boogie board. The speeds are higher than people expect and injuries happen every season, mostly from sitting up mid-slide or hitting the flat at the bottom. Keep your feet down as brakes and stay flat. The stream at the bottom runs to Ninety Mile Beach and is the access route tour coaches use to get onto the sand. It is fully exposed, blindingly bright, and the sand gets hot enough to burn feet. Nothing here is supervised.

History

In 1966 the Department of Lands and Survey bought Te Paki Station to create a coastal park, and the archaeologist Janet Davidson surveyed it from 1969 to 1971, recording 45 pā sites, 207 pit, terrace and hut sites, middens and 19th-century sandstone walls (Wikipedia, Te Paki Sand Dunes).

The main sights

• The dune field - bare sand over a hundred metres high in places.
• The sandboarding - hired boards, head-first, faster than expected.
• The climb up - soft sand, hot, and harder than the ride down.
• Te Paki Stream - the route down to Ninety Mile Beach.

When to go

October to April. Early or late in the day - midday sand burns and the climb is brutal in full sun. Board hire is at the car park and is not always staffed.

Things to know

Injuries are common - keep feet down to brake and do not sit up mid-slide. The climb is exhausting. There is no shade, no supervision and no water. Sand gets into everything.

Nearby

Cape Reinga is twenty kilometres north; Ninety Mile Beach runs south.

Key facts