Only 15 minutes west of Dargaville, Ripiro Beach is New Zealands longest drivable beach and runs from the North side of the Kaipara Harbour almost to the southern side of the Hokianga Harbour. The beach is long, flat and open to vehicles. The main 2 entry and exit points of note along the beach at the settlements of Glinks Gully and Baylys Beach, though are other possible places to enter and exit the beach like Parawanui Road. Baylys Beach is the northern of these 2 places and directly West of Dargaville with Glinks Gully further South.
A learner adventure rider may need some assistance getting on and off the beach as the access ways are often chewed up, but once on the beach they should be fine.
Heading South from Glinks Gully takes you 46km down to Poutu Point and New Zealand’s oldest wooden lighthouse on top of some big dunes.
Accessing the beach at Glinks Gully requires crossing about 40 metres of soft sand but after that the sand is quite firm. Do not attempt to travel on the beach 2-3 hours either side of high tide as the sand is very soft and you will most likely get stuck, the ability to self recover is essential here as there is no cell phone service along the beach or at the lighthouse and even at Glinks Gully cell service is not guaranteed.
Outside of 3 hours either side of high tide the beach is very flat and wide and the sand below the high tide line is generally relatively firm, although riding the beach could be a challenge on bigger bikes as there can be hidden patches of soft sand which can catch you unaware. The beach is a public road so all road rules apply, you may also pass other beach users including people fishing, take care not to pass between a fishing rod and the water as you may get tangled in a fishing line.
The Poutu Beach Lighthouse is elevated at the top of large dunes and access from the beach to the lighthouse is either via walking or maybe possible if you are a competent rider on an enduro bike.
Check out more information on Poutu Point from the Department of Conservation
Check out more information on the Poutu Point Lighthouse from the Historic Places Trust
Contributed by: @eddieb, @chriscole
Track type: Sandy Beach
Track composition: Bumpy, Soft, Undulating
Slippery when wet? No
Suitable for bikes <650cc? Beginner
Suitable for bikes >650cc? Intermediate
River crossings? No
What’s “whaleable”?
…and chookchaser being a full-on dirt-squirter?
No probs to take nearly anything bar the “Goldwing-Class” across the 10m of slightly deeper sand onto the hardpack at Poutu beach (low tide!!)
and run it up the beach to below the lighthouse. Making it up the dunes is another matter though.
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6335&page=6 (post #28 onwards)
Great spot, well worth the ride…Poutu Point and Kellys Bay are worthwhile stops on the Dargaville-> Poutu stretch.
More on Ripiro Beach (Pouto -> Aranga) here:
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showpost.php?p=72707&postcount=5
We don’t have a GPS tracklog down to the lighthouse, hint hint
P.s this is quite a cool little track up there https://www.adventureridingnz.co.nz/gps-tracks-rides/north-island-tracks/pawanui-road/
On a good day it would be….walked up it late Oct and the first ~150-200m from the beach-hardpack were a heart-pounding, sweat-squirting affair. And that was just walking…it was THAT deep and loose/ no “escape” lines anywhere.
Getting a bunch of loaded 1200’s through there would take a good while…
Same for the creek at Kai Iwi Lakes…Omamari Beach was easy on the sand, but the river crossing looked about 1m deep.
Then again…it’s all sand, things change fairly quickly.
Yes, I do recommend on the Pawanui Road page that it’s best ridden East To West/Inland to Beach direction.
Last time I went down there jumped on at Baylys, it was the easiest beach entry Ive ever done. Would be no problem on a big bike. You would have to be very experienced to try and make it up the massive dune at Pouto Point to reach the lighthouse. I was knacked from following the 4×4 boys in the dune tracks so I didn’t even attempt it, went fishing instead haha. Photo doesn’t do it justice, it’s a very long way up and was wavy, so the biggest issue would be keeping speed up to climb it. Also I wouldn’t recommend getting to Pouto lighthouse from the southern end, the 4×4 guys I was with don’t go near it as it’s normally way too soft and can be like quicksand.
I have a short 4km track log of a trail behind the dunes south of Glinks if you interested? Also have track log of mountain road but I forgot to take a photo *DOH*
Mahuta Gap Rd. (just south of Baylys Beach, off Mahuta Rd./ Mt. Wesley Rd.) is another fairly easy entry.
Popular with the local 4WDs and fishermen to avoid the tourist-hubbab at Baylys.
Narrow valley barely containing the twin-track, it’s another “wet” entry/ exit (sort of like Te Paki up 90Mile).
Good for getting off the beach with a decent freshwater- splash to get any salt off the bikes. Mind oncoming traffic, it’ll get very squeezy with panniers/ bags on.
If you have any pics of the lighthouse and riding up to it please post them up.
I tried riding down the Harbour side of Poutu Point a few years ago and didn’t have much luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEmgJxLLPxU
Sorry, can’t help there.
Still no GPS/ Facebook/ Mobile Phones or “antisocial networking” here. Old School only, shrug.
Thanks to Chris Cole we now have a track for Poutu Point down to the lighthouse so this topic has been attached to the track page.
Went down Ripiro Beach from Bayleys with the group doing the Kaipara 600. Gave it a crack up to the lighthouse. Made it up there without too much hassle. It was much less wavy this time around, but the key as with all sand is just keeping up the speed and momentum. One guy got near the top and launched his bike when the dune disappeared into thin air! We also made our way round Pouto Point, it was soft in places but nothing like what Eddie experienced. I guess just like the dune system it changes from day to day.
Good Effort Dan, you were one of only 6 bikes to make it up to the lighthouse.
Absolutely Stunning. Planning on doing a over-nighter and some exploring in Dec.
Like Muriwai and Karioitahi beaches, Ripiro Beach is now in the spotlight due to too many idiots causing problems in vehicles.
Brace ourselves for another beach with tighter restrictions for access.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/toxic-cocktail-of-speed-and-too-many-vehicles-on-northland-beach-threatening-lives/IRHQNXEY5HFKVYNLHWATNZFROI/
Can’t seem to delete posts… can delete this one, won’t allow a gdb file.