Ocean Beach is a long beach of golden sand in the

Hastings District Hastings is a town in the United Kingdom, most famous for the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Hastings may also refer to: Places Australia * Hastings, Tasmania, a locality * Hastings, Victoria, Australia ** Electoral district of Hastings, Victoria, ...

of the

Hawke's Bay Region Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

, on the east coast of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It lies between

Cape Kidnappers Cape Kidnappers, known in Māori as , and officially named Cape Kidnappers / Te Kauwae-a-Māui, is a headland at the southern extremity of Hawke Bay on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is at the end of an peninsula that protr ...

to the north, and Waimarama Beach to the south. Ocean Beach has a small population, mainly of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

ethnicity. Local Māori know it also as Waipuka. Visitors, mainly Hawke's Bay locals, enjoy it as a seaside recreational beach. Ocean Beach has few roads – only the road to it from

Havelock North Havelock North () is a town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, situated less than 2 km south-east of the city of Hastings. It was a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of local government saw it merg ...

, and some others branching off to a few houses. Ocean Beach has a strong rip current and usually has large strong waves and is therefore popular with surfers. The beach has surf life-saving patrols running all through summer. Behind the sandy beachfront are the Haupouri Flats, an area of farm pasture. The land behind that is very hilly and the one-way road going down to the beach is steep. A river formed by runoff from farmland flows onto the beach and creates features that vary often, from a river going straight into the sea, to a delta, a lake, or a lagoon. Sometimes beachgoers create canals from these lakes and rivers to the sea. On 13 March 2006, leaked documents between Hastings District Mayor Lawrence Yule and a syndicate of developers that approved of over 500 houses and new roading to be built in Ocean Beach. The area mainly owned by Māori was to become a town and residents were outraged. There was a dispute between Hastings authorities and residents over the new constructions. Many developments have been proposed on the area dating back to 1995 and have been rejected by locals.

References

{{coord, 39.744, S, 177.01, E, source:enwiki-plaintext-parser, display=title Hastings District Populated places in Hawke's Bay Beaches of Hawke's Bay