Tag Archives: black sand beach

Raglan and its Black Sand Beaches

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We left Waitomo early and only had an hour drive to Hamilton so we decided to make a detour to Raglan, a small surf town.

What a wonderful surprise this place turned out to be.  It was bustling with tourists enjoying the sunny day and various shops and eateries.  

We walked around a bit, checked out a few shops and had lunch at Wyld.

This place had a super cool vibe.  We both wished we would have stayed over night here!

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil falls drops an impressive 55 meters through the lush forest of Raglan.

This is definitely one of the most impressive waterfalls we’ve seen! 

The pure force of the water coming down caused it to bounce off the pool of water at the bottom!

It is super easy to get to and you have the option to experience the waterfalls from 4 different lookouts.  

There are 261 stairs down through a thick pocket of native bush, it feels peaceful, wild, and a little bit magical.

My favorite view was at the bottom looking up at the magnificent force of nature.

Ngarunui Beach

Raglan is known for its black sand beaches and I just had to see them.

The first beach we went to was called Ngarunui Beach and it is a famous left surf spot.

This is the main beach of Raglan and is great for swimming and surf lessons.

There is a beautiful lookout over the entire bay.  Just to the right of the lookout is a little, not well-traveled trail down to the beach.

We walked the span of the beach which is simply stunning.

Te Toto Gorge

Te Toto Gorge is not super easy to get to as you have to drive along a very narrow, gravel road 5km to reach it.

This site has dramatic views of the west coast and the Tasman Sea. Rich in Māori history.

It was a truly lovely day visiting Raglan, but we were off to Hamilton next.

Our blog posts run 6 weeks behind actual live events.  

We visited Raglan in early February 2026.

Twinkly Tahiti

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I had to show you a fabulous side of Tahiti after our last blog on derelict boats.  We enjoy a live concert called “Rock the Dock” with our friends on Liward and we visit another fabulous lunch surfside.  If you look, not even really hard, you find the twinkly side of Tahiti.

Rock the Dock

Steve on Liward hosted another live concert, but this time in Tahiti. He plays with different locals depending on which island he is located at.  He has done this for years so he knows people everywhere.  In Tahiti, he plays with La Guitune (or Guy) who plays the electric violin!  I’ve never heard an electric violin before, but he played it so amazingly well.  Think of the Charlie Daniel’s Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” fiddle playing – truly impressive. I posted a video on my Instagram account if you want to hear him (christine.mitchell4) on 13 November 2021.

Steve and Lili set up a huge pop up tent, powered the speakers and sound system and set up chairs for the many fans.  

The stars for the night.

The fans were plenty. We ended up having well over 35 people enjoying the live music.

SNACK TAHARU’U on the Surf

Steve and Lili took us to a new place to eat called Snack Taharu’u. It is a cute little place located about 20 minutes from Marina Taina. It is situated on beautiful black sand and has a patio overlooking the surf. 

Usually many locals are showing off their surfing talents here, but on the day we went, the seas were super unhappy making it too difficult to surf.  But there were some brave body surfers (can you see them in the 3 photos on the right) and tons of people playing the river mouth.

It was a gloomy day, but we made the best of it.  As did some of the locals who made a shelter out of the drift wood.

MARAE ARAHURAHU

On the way to the snack, we stopped at a beautiful marae right off the road.  It was so easy to get to and really lovely.  There are two tikis in front of the marae (spiritual site).

The grounds were immaculately kept and well cared for with a clear path leading you to the sacred grounds.

The marae is the only marae that has been 100% restored.

We had some fun posing in front of the statue.

And some more craziness…

It was time to say goodbye to Tahiti.  We need to make our way towards Gambier and the easiest way to do that is to go through the Tuamotus.  On our last night we had a marvelous sunset over Mo’orea and I was even able to capture the moon.

       

Derelict boats of Tahiti are showcased on our last blog.   Events from this blog post occurred early November.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.