Ripiro Beach is a sandy stretch on the west coast of Northland,

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 ...

, extending from

Pouto Peninsula The Pouto Peninsula is a landform on the northern Kaipara Harbour in Northland, New Zealand. The Peninsula runs in the north west to south east direction and is approximately 55 km long. The width varies from about 5.4 km to about 14& ...

in the south to Maunganui Bluff in the north. At 66 miles (107km) long it is the longest driveable beach in New Zealand, longer than the more famous, but erroneously named Ninety Mile Beach further north. It is straight, and backed by high sand dunes for most of this length. The beach incorporates the coastal settlements of Baylys Beach, Glinks Gully and Omamari. The swamp at Omamari was drained in 1898, in order for the area to be dug for

kauri gum Kauri gum is resin from kauri trees (''Agathis australis''), which historically had several important industrial uses. It can also be used to make crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the North Island of New Zealand, bef ...

. This beach is home of the famous local shellfish delicacy called the toheroa. Overexploitation in the 1950s and 1960s caused the population of the shellfish to decline enough that public gathering of the shellfish is now prohibited. It is the site of numerous shipwrecks, with 110 confirmed shipwrecks recorded between 1839 and 1994, and 17 more unconfirmed.

History

In either 1807 or 1808 at Moremonui Gully where it enters Ripiro Beach, 19 kilometres (12 miles) south of Maunganui Bluff

Ngāti Whātua Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, ...

ambushed

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 16 ...

in the

Battle of Moremonui The battle of Moremonui was fought between Ngāti Whātua and Ngāpuhi, two Māori '' iwi'' (tribes), in northern New Zealand in either 1807 or 1808. The Ngāpuhi force had a few muskets, making this the first occasion Māori used muskets in wa ...

, the first Māori battle to involve muskets, initiating a larger conflict which became known as the

Musket Wars The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms rac ...

."Traditional Maori Concepts, Utu" Ministry of Justice website
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References

*http://www.kauricoast.co.nz/Feature.cfm?wpid=6344 *http://www.newzealand.com/int/article/pouto-peninsula-and-ripiro-beach/ *http://www.northlandnz.com/about/features/northland_must_dos/west_coast/ripiro_kai_iwi/ {{coord, -35.95551, 173.74514, display=title Kaipara District Beaches of the Northland Region