Wharariki Beach
Interesting facts
- When Windows 10 launched in 2015, staff at the local Tasman District Council assumed their own IT team had set the Archway Islands as their lock screen.
- The name Archway Islands only became official on 14 November 2013, when New Zealand's Geographic Board approved 133 place names at once.
- Even the largest of the Archway Islands measures only about 300 by 200 metres, and it is joined to the beach rather than cut off by the sea.
- The second Archway Island, about 150 metres offshore, is low and covered in vegetation, unlike the two bare rock stacks farther out.
- Wharariki is the Māori name of a plant native to New Zealand.
- Archaeological sites around the beach record Māori occupation linked to hunting the now-extinct moa, and nearby Pūponga Point was once a fortified pā.
- Behind the shifting dunes lies a string of small lakes and swamps that shelters some very rare plants.
- The neighbouring Farewell Spit, New Zealand's longest sand spit at about 25 kilometres, was named by James Cook in 1770 as he left New Zealand.
Why it is worth it
Wharariki Beach lies at the very top of New Zealand's South Island, just west of Cape Farewell, where the land runs out and the Tasman Sea meets the open ocean with nothing to break its swell. It is a beach you have to walk to: the road ends in farmland, and a track crosses farm paddocks and a strip of coastal bush before the land falls away over wind-carved dunes to a long, wide sweep of sand. The wind here is the sculptor. It keeps the grassy dunes on the move, draws ripples across the sand and whips spray off the breakers.
Offshore stand the Archway Islands, a group of four rock stacks, the nearest joined to the beach at low tide and the farthest roughly 250 metres out. The largest is pierced by two natural arches, which gave the group its name, and one of the stacks rises some 66 metres from the sea. Seen at low tide, when the wet sand reflects them and their silhouettes line up against the sunset, they make an unforgettable coastal scene; in 2015 the view became a default lock-screen image on Windows 10.
The shore is also a nursery. New Zealand fur seals haul out on the rocks, and at low tide their pups play in the pools and channels along the base of the cliffs, often within sight of the beach. The coast around it is full of caverns and small islands. Behind lies Pūponga Farm Park, a working farm on public land, and further south the northern edge of Kahurangi National Park.
Getting there
The nearest settlement is Pūponga, about 4 km away; Collingwood is about 27 km by road, and the town of Richmond about 102 km as the crow flies. The nearest airport is Nelson (NSN), about 100 km away in a straight line, and considerably further by road. From Collingwood follow the road towards Pūponga and then Wharariki Road to the car park at its end; the walk to the beach takes about 20 minutes. Swimming is not recommended because of strong rips. Keep at least 20 metres from the seals; dogs are not allowed, and the farm may close for lambing, calving or high fire danger.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Wharariki Beach is a beach on the Tasman Sea, west of Cape Farewell, the northernmost point of the South Island of New Zealand.
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