Baylys Beach is the small bach community that provides the easiest access to the long beach stretching 100km from Kaipara Harbour to Maunganui Bluff. This is the most exceptional 2WD drivable beach in the country! It’s better than 90-Mile Beach because of the colorful sandstone cliffs that line its length, scattered small waterfalls, and the dunes/bluffs that punctuate each end. 90-Mile, were it not for the dunes at each end, would be a bit drab. Here at Baylys Beach the scenery is stunning out both side windows!
Here’s a rundown for explorers:
- 2WD access is easy at both Baylys and Glinks Gully.
- The entire beach is drivable two hours past high tide until two hours before the next high tide (an 8-hour window).
- Glinks is 20km south of Baylys via the beach. It has a bunch of baches and a steep sealed ramp onto the wetsand. It’s a good destination for a first-time beach driver.
- South of Glinks is 50km of wilderness beach heading to Puoto’s dunes, lighthouse, and ???? road access (I haven’t been south of Glinks, so I can’t tell you how it is.)
- Heading north, at the 21km point (from Baylys), you’ll find the 4m waterfall that marks the track that heads to Kai-Iwi lakes.
- At 27km you smack into Maunganui Bluff, where only super-high clearance vehicles can exit onto Aranga road.
Maunganui Bluff Track: I never made it to the top of the bluff cuz the tide was coming hard, but pix I’ve seen look fab. The track is steep. Can’t wait to go back.
