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Bayly's Beach Today I'm kicking off with a bit of two-wheel drive … up a steep sandy incline. And from up here I can get a great view of one of New Zealand's best kept 4wding secrets, Baylys beach. 112km of sand driving, 153 shipwrecks and even some treacherous quicksand so lets go check it out ! There's plenty of room to move down here on the sand. Only on the busiest holidays will you encounter much traffic. This is probably one of the best beaches I've driven on, it's flat, it's compact really solid surface its like driving on a bitumen road. It doesn't take long to soak up the kilometres in conditions like these. Soon the orginal coastline gets further and further from the crashing surf … what was once the ocean has been reclaimed by another sea - of spectacular dunes! Scampering over the sand, I slip into a sahara-style wonderland. But instead of a camel caravan, my next discovery is a shipwreck! These are the bones of a ship called the Lord Of the Isle which was wrecked on these beaches in 1900. The shifting sand dunes here contain another 27 shipwrecks and that's why they call this area the kaipora graveyard. Get in trouble on these dunes and it's your four wheel drive that'll need the headstone. Further along I run into the real car-killer on this coast - quicksand! You can easily spot it by the darker, rippled areas on the sand. Fortunately this patch had dried out a fair bit and was safe to cross … with a few bumps and jumps! That's the infamous quicksand - as you can see you could easily lose your car in that one, so if you're up here on your own, make sure you take care. With the sun getting low it's time to head for home. Driving back is like gliding across a golden mirror … beach driving doesn't get any more spectacular than this. Baylys Beach is on the Kauri coast, less than three hours drive north of Auckland. Driving on the beach is free. But a local guide is recommended to really find the special places and shipwrecks. The Kauri Coast Information
Office… or Tourism New Zealand in Sydney can give you plenty
of information on magical spots like this one. |
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Baylys Beach 4wd Local Information Tourism New Zealand
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