We have all asked the question, "Could there be a better beach in New Zealand?", usually when we are basking on one of the enchantingly beautiful crescents of sand and surf that stud our coasts. So just for fun this summer the Herald invited readers to nominate their best.
Those who took the trouble gave us more than a hundred, some of them not well enough known for a popular vote. For many, its seclusion is the main reason it is their favourite beach and we do not want to change it. So we presented an expert panel with 26 of the better known beaches and asked them to whittle it down to 10 for the popular vote.
Of the 10 they chose, eight are on the east coasts of the Coromandel, Auckland or Northland, which may disappoint devotees of the wild west coast beaches and southerners. But let us face it, the south has beautiful alpine scenery and glacial lakes but when it comes to sublime coastal attractions, the north's warmer water and pohutukawa-fringed bays cannot be beaten.
Unless of course you prefer Castlepoint on the Wairarapa coast or Kaiteriteri near the top of the South Island. Golden sand takes some beating. But you be the judge. It is a chance to think more carefully about what makes a great beach.
Our experts, Surf Life Saving NZ's northern region chief executive Matt Williams, surfer and songwriter Jamie McDell and Associate Professor Karin Bryan, who studies the movement of coastal sediments and nutrients, were given set criteria that included on-shore facilities and accessibility as well as water quality. But as Williams said, "You don't visit a beach and say, 'That was a great toilet'. You walk there and it hits you, it's spiritual, it captures you."
