Golden heaven pride of the south
It’s just another day in paradise. Or as most people call it, Kaiteriteri.
Kaiteriteri is a beach of golden sand and azure blue water. It’s a small hamlet about 13 kilometres from the closest town – Motueka.
You see, Kaiteriteri is not only the best beach in the country, it’s one of the best in the world.
It has been listed as one of the world’s top five beaches by The Guardian, and was number 68 in CNN.com’s top 100 in the world. Coromandel’s Hot Water Beach only just slid in, at 94.
There’s a reason people keep coming back here.
The summer sun brings with it a packed beachfront, a melting pot of Kiwis on summer holidays and sunsmart tourists in burkinis.
Wellingtonian Laura Abbot thinks Kaiteriteri is tops.
‘‘I probably wouldn’t go to a beach in the North Island for a holiday, just because coming here makes it feel like more of a getaway,’’ she says.
Kaiteriteri is the perfect spot for it, a hidden gem surrounded by forested hills that open up like a panoramic picture when you enter the bay. The hills at your back block out the world behind you and the sea stretches out to the horizon.
Morgan Hodgson, who holidays in Kaiteriteri frequently, said the main reason she came here was because she had family in Nelson. Kaiteriteri was close to Nelson, but it was also the best beach.
‘‘I kinda dig campsites right on the beach-front . . . you wake up in the morning and the sea is right there,’’ she said.
The only beach she’d been to in the North Island was Raglan, but she wouldn’t pay for the plane ticket just to go back there for the beach.
‘‘I wouldn’t fly to the North Island to go for a beach holiday.
‘‘Why would I pay for a ticket up north, when the best beach in New Zealand is here for free?’’
North Island, you’re clearly misguided if you think you stand a chance against us.
SKARA BHONY