It is rare to find a 5km stretch of white sand dune beach, with not a single house nor any other sign of civilization in sight. Coastal zoning limits over development and the Department of Conservation manages an afforested belt running the entire length of the beach to Ohui, acting as a buffer zone preventing any encroachment. To get to the beach you can park in the large carpark at the beginning of Ohui Road. Toilet facilities are available. Beach access is by way of the quaint wooden footbridge and a leisurely 10min stroll through the forest. The beach has a raw beauty with spectacular views out to Slipper Island and provides good, safe swimming as well as great surf. There are pathways which cut through to the beach from the main path. Please stick to these and avoid disrupting the dunes which were planted in Spinifex and native Pingao grasses to bind them and prevent wind erosion. Take the time to explain this to your children. They are keen to learn the reasons why - environmental education cannot begin early enough.

Inshore of the beach is the Wharekawa Harbour: estuarine mudflats, mangrove, a breeding ground for fish, crustaceans and shellfish - a feeding ground for a multitude of shoreline birds. Where the beach and estuary converge at the harbour mouth is a sandspit providing a nesting ground of major significance. For the endangered New Zealand Dotterel as well as for Oystercatchers - this is the Wharekawa Wildlife Refuge, supervised by the D.O.C. Beach, estuary and sandspit, indispensable to one another and coming together to form a balanced but extremely fragile ecosystem. The overall picture is one of harmony, until we step in.

The Department of Conservation has a warden posted during the busy summer months to monitor movements and effects on the bird sanctuary, as the holiday season and peak visitor numbers corresponds with the N.Z. Dotterel’s nesting period. The nesting area on the sandspit is cordoned off and there are information boards advising people to keep their distance, and NO DOGS, yet every year disregard of these two major points are contributing factors to increased stress for the nesting birds. Most importantly do not follow the inner shoreline of the estuary and continue along the spit to the harbour mouth - D.O.C. studies have confirmed that upon human or animal approach, birds which will normally forage the inner shoreline of the estuary, retreat for great periods of time until the “danger” is well past thus preventing the parents from supplying enough food to sustain their young. Other D.O.C. studies have shown a direct correlation between human and animal encroachment into the breeding/nesting area and disruption of the dotterels nesting habits leading to increased egg failure due to overheating, overcooling or theft of unprotected eggs by Black backed Gulls. There is provision at the beginning of the sanctuary to cut across the dunes over a walkway. This takes you to or from the beach and from there one can continue along the beach or up the estuary towards the carpark respectively.