Best surf spots in Northland East

Two distinct breaks within a short walk: the bar and the main beach. The river bar at the mouth of the estuary is the star, best on low tide, when it produces hollow lefts and punchy rights either side of Sentinel Rock.

Come for the swimming and the quiet, stay for the right-hander off the rocks: a mellow holiday bay with a surprise hollow wall hiding at the southern end when the swell finally lines up.

The pick of the Tutukaka Coast, an open east-facing beach that catches NE swells with full energy and turns powerful and hollow on a solid groundswell, the Poor Knights Islands floating on the horizon.

A friendly, forgiving wave at the southern tip of Bream Bay that longboarders and mid-length riders adore, and the first place locals run to when the bigger beaches up the coast are out of hand.

Thirty minutes east of Whangarei, where the road runs out at the foot of Bream Head and a wide beach faces the open Pacific. The local choice when the Tutukaka coast is too far and the city banks are flat.

A wide white-sand crescent backed by green hills, where the surf is a sometimes-bonus rather than a reliable session. Come for the view and treat a clean wave as the day's surprise.

Northland's long, fickle Bream Bay beach that hides a secret: when a storm clears and the wind turns NW, it switches on and barrels while the whole coast around it is blown out.

When this Far North bay fires it fires properly, a gnarly drop into a hollow barrel that has caught out more than one visiting surfer. Advanced-to-expert terrain for the explorer, not the day-tripper.

One of those Northland east coves that doesn't show up in surf reports. Punchy, accessible peaks across a remote sandy beach, reached through private farmland that the community fought to keep open.

A quiet east-facing bay on culturally significant Ngāpuhi land, with a soft beach break and a river-bar peak that rewards visitors who slow down and tread lightly.