Mangawhai
Worth the drive, worth the stay
An hour and a half north of Auckland, where the surf, the harbour and the hills all arrive in the same small place. Here's what to do with a day of it — and where we come in.
Always here
No date required. Turn up.
The beach
Open ocean, and room to spread out
Mangawhai Heads is a proper east coast surf beach — white sand, a long dune line, and waves that suit a board or a boogie board depending on the day. It's patrolled through summer, so swim between the flags and let the lifeguards do their job.
Walk far enough along it and you'll have a stretch to yourself, even in January. Bring water, bring a hat, and plan on being hungry afterwards.
Ten minutes back to us when you have had enough sun.
Lunch →
The harbour
Flat water, and a spit worth respecting
Behind the dunes the harbour turns everything down a notch. It's the place for a kayak, a paddleboard, a fish off the boat, or a slow wade at low tide while the kids look for anything that moves.
The sandspit at the harbour mouth is a wildlife refuge, and one of only a handful of places in the country where the tara iti, the New Zealand fairy tern, still nests. Keep to the marked tracks, keep dogs on the lead, and give the roped-off areas a wide berth — there are only a few dozen of these birds left.
Low tide makes for a slow morning. The kitchen runs brunch until 2:30pm.
Brunch →
On foot
The Cliffs Walkway
The best few hours in Mangawhai. The track climbs out of the Heads, runs the clifftops with the whole coast laid out below and islands sitting on the horizon, then drops down to come home along the beach.
Check the tide before you set off — the beach return needs low water, and the sea does not negotiate. Take the loop at a reasonable pace and you'll be back in the village with an appetite and an opinion about the view.
The loop takes a few hours. Worth booking a table for afterwards.
Book a table →
Golf · Te Arai
Te Arai Links
Championship links laid out through the dunes at Te Arai, with the Pacific on one side and the forest on the other. It is the sort of course that turns up on lists of the best in the world, and it is a short drive south of us.
You do not have to play it to enjoy it. The coastline it runs along is worth the trip on its own.
Eighteen holes is a long morning. Dinner is a good way to end it.
Dinner →-
Mangawhai Beach Market
Growers, bakers and makers set up at Mangawhai Beach School on Insley Street every Saturday morning — produce, plants, baking, and a fair amount of standing around talking. Bring cash and a bag, and do not plan anything immediately afterwards.
Mangawhai Beach Market → (opens in a new tab)A good number of the stalls are on The Local List. Come and see who feeds us.
The Local List → -
Bennetts
Chocolate made here in Mangawhai, and somewhere to sit down while you decide how much of it to take home. Very easy to lose half an hour in.
Bennetts → (opens in a new tab) -
Mangawhai Golf Club
Mangawhai has its own club running down toward the coast — a proper links course, friendly, and rather more relaxed than its famous neighbour. Visitors welcome.
Mangawhai Golf Club → (opens in a new tab)Eighteen holes and a cold one afterwards is a complete plan.
Drinks → -
Mangawhai Artists Gallery
The gallery shows local artists, and Mangawhai has more of them than a town this size has any business having. Twenty well-spent minutes, and better than most things to do in the rain.
Mangawhai Artists Gallery → (opens in a new tab) -
Mangawhai Activity Zone
MAZ is where Mangawhai families end up on a fine afternoon. A skatepark and a pump track, a 3x3 basketball court and a multi-sports court, a playground with a flying fox and gym equipment, soccer and cricket fields, bike and walking tracks, and picnic tables with barbecues — all on one site off Molesworth Drive. The bowl is good enough to draw a competition of its own every year.
Mangawhai Activity Zone → (opens in a new tab)Children run themselves flat here. Brunch is on until 2:30pm for whoever has to drive home.
Brunch → -
Mangawhai Museum
The museum tells Mangawhai from the harbour outwards — the ships that were built here, the families who stayed, and the natural history of a coast that is still home to the critically endangered fairy tern. Open daily, year round, and the building earns a look of its own: the roof is a stingray.
Mangawhai Museum → (opens in a new tab)
Worth timing it for
Once a year, and worth the diary entry.
-
Northern Bass
Northern Bass brings a very large number of people to a paddock outside Mangawhai to see in the New Year. Big line-ups, long nights, and a town that wakes up slowly on the first. If you are here for it, book early — everything in Mangawhai is busy that week, us included.
Northern Bass → (opens in a new tab)Camping does not have to mean instant coffee. The kitchen runs brunch until 2:30pm and there is no judgement.
Brunch → -
Mangawhai Domain Gala
The gala lands on the second of January every year, which is either excellent timing or very brave depending on how your New Year went. The whole town turns up to the Domain for it, and a small place doing this sort of thing properly is worth an afternoon of anybody's holiday.
Mangawhai Domain Gala → (opens in a new tab)Dinner from 5pm, for when the field empties and nobody fancies cooking.
Dinner → -
Easter Car & Bike Show
Classic cars and bikes fill the Domain every Easter Sunday, along with a great many people leaning on things with their arms folded. Good for an hour whether or not you can tell one decade of chrome from another, and it is the same day every year — no need to check before you plan around it.
Easter Car & Bike Show → (opens in a new tab)Lunch runs from midday, once you have looked at enough chrome.
Lunch →
Make a day of it
Start with coffee. Finish with us.
-
Morning
Doors open at 9:30am. Coffee and brunch before the beach — the kitchen runs breakfast until 2:30pm, so there's no rush.
Brunch → -
Middle
Surf, spit, or the walkway. Come back in sandy and order lunch from midday — nobody here minds bare feet.
Lunch → -
Evening
Small plates, pizza off the bench and something cold, with music on when the night calls for it. We go until late.
Dinner →
The Local
Where the day lands
Everything here is better with somewhere to end up. We're open 9:30am til late, closed Tuesdays — under one roof for coffee, brunch, a long lunch, dinner and a drink after it, with the beach ten minutes down the road.
Book a table if you're a group or it's a weekend in summer. Otherwise just come in — that's rather the point of a local.