Ripirō Beach

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Beach on the coast of New Zealand

title: "Ripirō Beach" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["kaipara-district", "beaches-of-the-northland-region"] description: "Beach on the coast of New Zealand" topic_path: "general/kaipara-district" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripirō_Beach" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Beach on the coast of New Zealand ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox landform"]

Field	Value
type	Beach
photo	Ripiro_Beach_looking_South.jpg
photo_alt	Ripirō Beach, looking south from near the hamlet of Baylys Beach
photo_caption	Ripirō Beach, looking south from near the hamlet of Baylys Beach
map	New Zealand
relief	true
label_position	left
location	Northland region
coordinates
water_bodies	Tasman Sea
length	107 km
::

Ripirō Beach is a sandy stretch on the west coast of Northland, New Zealand, extending from the Maunganui Bluff in the north down the Pouto Peninsula to the Kaipara Harbour mouth in the south.

At 66 miles (107 km) long it is the longest driveable beach in New Zealand, longer than the more famous but erroneously named Ninety Mile Beach further north. It is straight, and backed by high sand dunes for most of this length. The beach incorporates the coastal settlements of Baylys Beach, Glinks Gully and Omamari.

The swamp at Omamari was drained in 1898, in order for the area to be dug for kauri gum.

This beach is home of the famous local shellfish delicacy the toheroa. Overexploitation in the 1950s and 1960s caused the population of the shellfish to decline so much that public gathering of the shellfish is now prohibited.

It is the site of numerous shipwrecks, with 110 confirmed shipwrecks on Ripirō Beach and neighbouring Kaipara Harbour recorded between 1834 and 1994. Notable ships wrecked on Ripirō Beach include the French corvette L'Alcmene (1851) and the yacht Askoy (1994).

History

In either 1807 or 1808 at Moremonui Gully where it enters Ripirō Beach, 19 kilometres (12 miles) south of Maunganui Bluff, Ngāti Whātua ambushed Ngāpuhi in the Battle of Moremonui, the first Māori battle to involve muskets, initiating a larger conflict which became known as the Musket Wars.

References

http://www.kauricoast.co.nz/Feature.cfm?wpid=6344
http://www.newzealand.com/int/article/pouto-peninsula-and-ripiro-beach/
http://www.northlandnz.com/about/features/northland_must_dos/west_coast/ripiro_kai_iwi/

References

"Te Kaitiaki Toheroa".
(1989). "Kauri Gum and the Gumdiggers". The Bush Press.
"Quakes and big tides work for wreck spotter".
"The story of the wrecked L'Alcmene".
"'Mad' Tom Davey's other granddaughter, Mary Scott".
"Shipwreck Databases".
"Askoy II refloated in Belgium 30 years after being wrecked on Northland beach".
"Battered Askoy II ready for big voyage home".
(January 31, 2009). "Askoy II remains stranded".
(January 31, 2009). "Iconic ship released from sand".
Crosby, R. D.. (1999). "The Musket Wars: A History of Inter-iwi Conflict 1806–45". Reed.
Cloher, Dorothy Urlich. (2003). "Hongi Hika: Warrior Chief". Penguin.
Smith, S. Percy. (1910). "Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century". Whitcombe and Tombs (republished in New Zealand Electronic Text Collection).
[https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/musket-wars/beginnings "Musket Wars: Beginnings"], NZHistory.net.nz
[http://www.justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/h/he-hinatore-ki-te-ao-maori-a-glimpse-into-the-maori-world/part-1-traditional-maori-concepts/utu/ "Traditional Maori Concepts: Utu"] {{Webarchive. link. (2010-05-22 . Ministry of Justice.)

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::