Kaitoke Beach is a sandy ocean beach on the east coast of Aotea Great Barrier Island, at Auckland 0991, and it carries a perfect 5.0 rating from its six Google reviewers.
Ocean beaches ask more of a swimmer than a sheltered city spot: rips run through the gaps in the sandbars, so choose water you can stand in and swim between the flags where lifeguards patrol. Island beaches rarely offer more than a car park and a track over the dune, so come self-sufficient — water, food, sunblock, something for shade — and carry everything back out again. The New Zealand sun burns through cloud, and low tide leaves the firmest sand for the long walk north or south.
At a perfect 5.0 from six reviewers, and with the Kaitoke Hot Springs walk nearby, this stretch of east-coast sand is clearly worth the ferry or flight across the Hauraki Gulf.