A holiday home on the Southshore spit, Secluded Beach Haven sits between the Avon-Heathcote Estuary and the ocean beach, with a 4.5 Google rating from its single review. Booking runs through the Bluepillow site, where you can compare options and check cancellation terms.
A beach house is a different animal from a hotel: the run of the whole place, a kitchen to self-cater from, room to spread out — the reasons families and groups favour them. The Southshore spit gives you two coastlines in one — calm estuary shallows for paddling and wind- and kite-surfing, and the open Pacific on the other side, where a watchful eye on conditions pays off. Rapanui, better known as Shag Rock, marks the estuary mouth, and the mudflats draw wading birds through the seasons. Summer and school holidays fill fast, so booking ahead is the regulars' move.
Minutes from Redcliffs and central Christchurch, this quiet stretch of Southshore is an easy home by the sea.