Towns

Waihi Beach is 11 minutes and 11km from Waihi and a quintessential New Zealand beach with sweeping white sand shores and a swell that swerves from millpond to monster depending on mood. Embracing the cruisy coastal attitude, the only dilemma beachgoers face is to swim then nap, or nap and then swim. Ahh decisions…

The name Waihi was bestowed on the beach first and the town later. Legend has it that a Maori traveler knelt to drink from a shallow creek, and when he made a hole in the earth fresh water continued to rise and fill the hole. Hence ‘Waihi' – rising water. The name proved to be prophetic in the late 1800s when gold-mining efforts at Waihi Beach were continually hindered by rising water flooding the mines and protecting gold from the hungry eyes of prospectors.

Waihi Beach was originally an area of respite for miners plagued by respiratory issues caused by damp and dust. They were sent to the beach for rehabilitation, the success of which was dubious. Some of their baches built at the northern end remain, though dwarfed by larger, flashier neighbours.

By the 1930s, the beach had become a popular tourist destination with dance halls and a movie theatre. It was a sunseeker's paradise, and has remained so today, though much has also changed. The cinema is no longer, but there are boutique stores, several cafés, an art gallery and a decent Four Square. Despite the rejuvenation and being only 2 hours from Auckland, 50 minutes from Tauranga and 90 minutes from Hamilton, the beach has kept its laid-back vibe.

The northern end of Waihi Beach is the most popular swimming location, with the Surf Club monitoring the swell during the summer season. Most of the stores are in the small village located on Wilson Road (turn right at the roundabout on Waihi Beach Road) but there's also the village of Bowentown at the southern end of the beach. Bowentown, once a volcanic island and now joined to the mainland by a sandy arm, is a section of Waihi Beach rich with Maori history thought to date back to 1300. There are four prominent pa sites near the shoreline and a large number of artefacts have been discovered along the beach including greenstone and ancient burial grounds.

One 1960s journal estimated 15,000 Maori once occupied the area – though that number is unable to be verified.