New Chums Beach is a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

in the Wainuiototo Bay on the northeast coast of the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the we ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, near

Whangapoua Whangapoua is a small settlement of mostly holiday houses located on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. It is situated 25 minutes drive east over the Coromandel Range from Coromandel along the northeastern coastline encompassing popular wh ...

. The hills behind the white-sand beach are undeveloped and covered in native bush, adding to its unspoiled appeal. In 2006, New Chums Beach was named one of the top 20 deserted beaches in the world by Britain's The Observer and highly rated by Lonely Planet and National Geographic. In 2010, plans were drawn up to develop 20 houses, a boatshed and ramp on land owned by a Queenstown developer. These were met with considerable resistance, leading to various campaigns to save the beach and surrounding land from any development, as it is one of the last sizable undeveloped beaches in the area. There is a track that leads to the beach in

, that is only accessible at low tide. New Chums Beach is only accessible by the track or by boat.

References

{{coord, 36, 42, 2, S, 175, 36, 34, E, display=title beaches of Waikato Thames-Coromandel District