Three Sisters and Elephant Rock

At the mouth of the Tongaporutu River the sea has cut a soft sandstone cliff into caves, arches and free-standing stacks. The Three Sisters were three of them - only two remain, and the name has simply outlived the arithmetic. Elephant Rock, a formation with a trunk-like arm that gave it the name, lost the trunk in 2016; what remains is still worth seeing, but photographs of it online are largely historical. That is the honest headline here: this is soft, actively eroding rock and the shapes change within a human lifetime. Access is entirely tide-dependent - you walk out across the river mouth and along the beach, only possible for about two hours either side of low tide, and people get caught by the returning water. Check the tide table, and do not start on a rising tide.

What you'll find

• The remaining stacks - two originals, from the beach at low tide.
• Elephant Rock - trunkless since 2016, unlike the old photographs.
• The caves and arches - cut into the soft sandstone cliff.
• The river mouth crossing - the tidal approach.

When to go

October to April, and strictly within about two hours of low tide. Check the tide table before driving out; outside that window the beach is impassable.

Things to know

The formations have changed and keep changing - what you see will not match older photographs. The crossing is tidal and people have been cut off. Cliffs shed rock; do not linger beneath them.

Nearby

Mokau is north; Whitecliffs and New Plymouth are south.

Key facts