Anchor Bay

Beautiful Anchor Bay is a day trip spent perfectly in one of our regions golden treasures.
I spent Easter Sunday here with my son and partner, we arrived not too long after lunch, and the car park close by was already packed to maximum capacity.
A short walk down to the beach via the beach path and we found a lovely patch of sand with our name on it.
I spent my time here swimming in the beautiful clean cool ocean, body surfing waves, and sun tanning. I recommend if you’re not too relaxed to take a walk down the beach towards the rock pools which fill up and explore a deep human sized rock pool that you can dive bomb into! Sublime.
The little kids will enjoy running about the rock pools and soaking in them, or searching for the little and big crabs that call it their home.
The oceans out beyond the bay are protected as a marine reserve so the fish/​sea creatures are happy and you won’t see a fisherman in this regional park area.
I love the peace I feel at Anchor Bay and always cherish my time here.

Anchor Bay seems to be where everyone is this summer. On the day I recently hit the waves, I found myself next to one of my son’s schoolmates. It’s quite the drive from Mt Eden but that’s New Zealand for ya.
The special thing about this beach is that while the immediately visible swimming area isn’t huge, the beach is sprawling and so is the shady grassland where you can picnic comfortably and still see the ocean. Carparking is a competitive sport but everyone here is so nice with it — no St Lukes parking rage here thank God.
The surf is rugged but safe enough for the kids but beware the wall of people flying at you with every wave, it’s kind of hysteria-​inducing (in a good way) and again, for some reason when people are here they have really good manners. It must be all that natural beauty and the exhiliration of a water workout.
Tawharanui in general is a newly discovered area for me and so pristine and gorgeous I am even considering becoming a camper.

This has to be one of the busiest beaches during the summer months! And it’s pretty obvious why. The beach itself is absolutely beautiful. The water is clear and crisp and the sand is squeaky clean… it actually squeaks sometimes when you rub your feet in it! This is a great beach for the family as more often that not there are little waves, which make for some fun boogie boarding or body surfing. As Jacob said it’s not often that there’s real surf-​able waves here but when the east coast swell gets up and hits at the right angle you might be in for a treat.
There are some awesome rock pools to explore and a hill to climb which gives you a great look out over the bay. But be careful! I once saw a group of young kids get washed along the rocks as a set wave rolled in. Make sure you accompany your kids and only go exploring if there aren’t big waves and the tide’s not too high!