The Kauri Coast is dominated by west-facing Ripiro Beach. At 107 km, it is the longest beach in NZ, noting that 90 Mile Beach was misnamed and is about 90 km long. Ripiro runs from the Kaipara Heads in the south to Maunganui Bluff in the north. Baylys Beach is essentially the short section of Ripiro around the Baylys Beach community, about 9 km from State Highway 12 heading north from Dargaville. It is accessed through the Chases Gorge between the high dunes and cliffs along much of the beach. You can drive a car onto the beach to access most of the length of Ripiro.
The beach is not ideal for swimming; it is wide with rough surf, with people driving cars and buggies on it. So it’s more of a place for surfing, sand yachts and surf cast fishing. To the left of the beach entrance is an interesting feature – fossilised ancient kauri trees and gum in lignite rocks. The seam is at least 50,000 years old and appears as a large black outcrop in the otherwise orange to yellow-coloured cliffs. Depending on the conditions, you can also see the seam continuing towards the surf in the sand.
The cliffs around the gorge and along the beach are feature, shaped and eroded by the environment. There is a nondescript grass reserve on the left side of the gorge just before the beach with a track to the top of the cliffs. Walking up only takes a few minutes, and the views are superb.
Baylys Beach also has a colourful local cafe/bar/takeaways shop.
