Wharariki is not a safe swimming beach, with its strong currents and wild seas. But it is a fantastic place to spend a day, running down the huge sand dunes, exploring the caves, and at the right time of year you can watch baby seals splashing in the rock pools.

Walks ranging from easy 5 min to more advanced 5 hours.

You can easily spend a day or three exploring this remarkable area. Choose from shorter walks suitable for children, or day-long trips up over bluffs and farmland. Farewell Spit (Onetahua) is a fascinating landscape shaped by wind and water, with ocean currents carrying sediment up the coast before depositing it to form the 25km-long sandspit.