What to do in Auckland: A Half-Day Trip to Piha Beach

Exploring New Zealand isn’t always easy without a car, and with public transport options in New Zealand often limited at best, most travellers will turn to a tour to make sure they get to see as much of the country as possible. But you don’t have to sacrifice too much of your time to make that work – even in a bustling business city like Auckland, it doesn’t take much more than half an hour to experience the real beauty that the country has to offer.

On my recent voyage over the Tasman, which also included an overnight cruise, I was able to spend an afternoon moving out about an hour South West of Auckland to experience the beauty of Piha Beach thanks to a special half day tour organised by Surf The Elements – a two year old tour group who offer a range of surf and snow tours, alongside surf lessons and a special half-day trip they call the Waitakere Ranges Tour.

Aimed at backpackers, the trip starts off with a pick-up service from one of four locations: YHA International, Base Backpackers, Sky City and Nomads Backpacker – where they’ll also drop you off at the end of the tour. With a maximum of ten people on board the trip, it’s fairly intimate and provides two stop offs on the way to the main destination.

The first stop is the Arataki Visitor Centre – which includes an information centre, a gift shop and an ice cream stand. But really this is a stop that’s about the view. And being only thirty minutes out of Auckland, what a stunning view you experience, looking South to the Manukau Harbour.

The journey to the centre and beyond is full of thin, windy roads – making for an interesting voyage, as you weave your way through the mountains and the trees that populate the majority of the landscape between Auckland and your beach. And then there are the waterfalls, and one of the region’s most impressive – Karekare – is your next stop, about a 20 minute trip from the tourist centre.

It’s a beautiful spot, with the sound of the cascading falls only slightly interrupted by the swimmers and those picnicking in the area. There’s not room for many down near the falls, but there are plenty of surrounding areas that give room to picnic, frolick or just pretend you’ve walked onto the Hobbiton movie set. Does it get much greener than this? I don’t think so.

Those more daring might take a quick dip in the cold waters, as your guide happily answers any questions you may have about the area – though we would recommend trying to head off to Piha as soon as you can. As amazing as the trip through the Ranges is, it’s really all about the beach…

It’s less than 15 minutes to get down to the beach and we immediately picked a spot to relax. The water, being colder than we’re blessed with in Australia, didn’t end up seeing us take a dip, but really we just wanted to take in all the beauty of the area.

Being low tide, we were able to explore some of the areas which during high tide must be full of water – given the sealife that has attached itself in great numbers to the rocks in the area.

We had enough time on the beach – probably an hour and a half – to relax, explore and even fit in a snack at the nearby fish and chip shack (“Blair’s on the Beach”). Honestly, we could have spent the whole day there. From its iconic black sand, to its seemingly never ending nooks, crannies and rock faces, there is a lot to explore. And it’s a wealth of beauty – unique colours drifting over the horizon as the waves roll in and a small amount of surfers try and catch something before the sun sets.

But, unfortunately, like all good things it must come to an end… and so we take the long, windy road back to civilization, as we wipe the black sand off our feet and hope to come back before too long.

The tour runs for about 4 hours and costs NZ$65 per person. To find out more about this tour – the Waitakere Ranges Tour – head to Surf The Elements’ official website: http://www.surftheelementstours.co.nz/waitakere-ranges-tours/.

This trip was kindly provided to our writer by Surf The Elements, with thanks to the support of New Zealand Tourism.

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.