Track Information
  • 1.5 km
  • Easy walking track
  • 1 hour return
  • Go around low tide for stream crossing

 

Before You Go
  • Shoes recommended for rocky track
  • Take plenty of water
  • Use toilets at Whangapoua before visiting

 

Preserve New Chum

A Must Do in The Coromandel. Hidden away from the masses and rarely explored by Kiwis is the spectacular Wainuiototo, also known as New Chum. It is so pristine and beautiful, it is sometimes voted as one of the world's top 10 beaches!

This stunning arc of golden sand fringed by Pohutukawa and native forest, is deserted for most of the year.  Wainuiototo embodies 'The Coromandel good for your soul.' This protected place means no buildings, no roads, no infrastructure or camping - it is a jewel in New Zealand's coastal crown. 

Know Before You Go

Getting There

Whangapoua is the gateway to New Chum beach and is equally as beautiful despite the coastal village lining the beach with kiwi baches. Whangapoua is the half way point on a Coromandel road trip - taking the same time to travel via the Thames Coast or Pacific Coast. Once you reach Whangapoua;

  • Head to the car park at the William Mangakahia Lagoon Reserve, north end of the beach
  • After checking the tides times (you don't want to get stranded on the other side), cross the stream
  • Walk across the rocky boulders around the headland
  • Follow the path over the saddle into the Nikau palm grove

On a solitary adventure, what better place to restore energy and connect with nature than on a walk to Wainuiototo Bay - otherwise known as New Chum Beach?

Once there please stay on the track and the beach. Please don't explore beyond the beach or on private land as there is Kauri Dieback disease in this area that needs to be contained.

Insights

New Chum is the sort of good-for-your-soul place where it’s entirely possible to witness Orca or Dolphins swimming the length of the beach. They are languid beasts, possessing that same New Chum quality of stillness, even when moving. A solitary Dotterel can twitter and skittle safely across the sand. These delicate birds are free from the threat of dogs and hordes of people at New Chum.

Return Journey

On the walk back, you can make a daring detour in the nikau grove; it is a hands and feet climb, not for the faint-hearted but worth it for the view. At every quarter turn there is something new and startling to see. To the west, great bush-clad ranges lurch up steeply from New Chum Beach, the bush giving way to pasture at its peak. To the north, the curved tip of The Coromandel peninsula. The hulking shadows of Great Mercury Islands dot the seascape of the eastern horizon. The blonde beaches of Whangapoua, Matarangi and Kuaotunu stretch southeast as far as the eye can see.

It’s a fifteen-minute rock hop back to William Mangakahia Lagoon Reserve from the bottom of the track. By that final stream crossing, your footsteps will be more certain. You are likely to be more relaxed and more observant, noticing all the details of the stunning natural environment surrounding you.

Highlights

You would expect New Chum to reward the stream crossing and rocky walk with deserted white sands, Instagram views.

Yet it gives so much more than you can imagine. Time ceases to exist once your feet hit the beach at New Chum. There is a quality of stillness and silence to this place. It is a quality that has become so rare in today’s noisy cluttered world, that you may not know you’re craving it until you get there. New Chum beach, hidden away on The Coromandel is a prehistoric piece of paradise. It is off the beaten track. You do have to go out of your way to find it. But like anything worthwhile, the effort is rewarding. Experience it for yourself.