Piha Beach Accommodation

Black Sands Lodge - Piha

Accommodation 1/2 a minute stroll to Piha Beach

Piha Beach Accommodation, Black Sands Lodge, is the closest accommodation to South Piha Beach.  Three choices of sun drenched accommodation just 1/2 a minute walk to the black sands and surf of NZ's famous Piha Beach.  Set in a large private native garden with off street parking and Wifi. Private dining and massage available on request.  

 Kauri Suite   or       Tui Suite or   

 Beach Cabin

Proud to be members of Piha Coastcare

Map of Piha Accommodation

1.  Black Sands Lodge

Lonely Planet Review

A great Article about Waitakere Ranges and West Coast Beaches by Margaret Turton

May 26, 2007 12:00am

NO TWO people will agree on what makes the perfect beach. Auckland's eastern beaches have soft white sands and gentle waves, but who could resist the black volcanic sand dunes and pounding surf of the Tasman Sea?

Not to mention the swimming holes, streams and waterfalls of a 16,000 hectare temperate rainforest ? the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park which, along with the black sand beaches, is just a 30-minute drive from downtown Auckland.

Views from Arataki Visitor Centre, the gateway to all this splendour, reveal a vast forest rolled out like a carpet dyed in multiple shades of green, save for a sprinkle of white wherever manuka tea trees burst into bloom. The forest gives way to the untamed beauty of the black sand beaches I recall from the movie, The Piano.

Thoughts of the wonders I would find there have me just about speechless.

The Waitakere Ranges Regional Park was once an underwater volcano. Two million years ago I would have been standing on the seabed 2km under the surface of an ocean.

Auckland spreads across 48 dormant volcanic cones, all of which have erupted in the past 150,000 years. And the chance of a new one bursting into life at some stage in the not-so-distant future is by no means impossible.

I'm still struck by that prospect as we head for the Kitekite Track and on towards the 40m Kitekite Falls.

To reach the falls we pass silver tree ferns (New Zealand's national emblem), ancient kauri trees, rata vine, puriri trees and the rangiora plant, also known as the bushman's friend, due the soft underside of its leaves, which have a range of useful applications.

A stream runs by the track for much of the route and we reach the spectacular falls with very little effort. We stay some time in the clean, moist air. Then it's time to take a look at the beach. We've already caught a distant glimpse of Piha beach and the iconic Lion Rock. Now we're on the strange black sands. They are rich in titanium, mica and iron and, to demonstrate just that, Elaine, our guide from Bush and Beach, whips out a magnet which is quickly covered in quartz-shaped sand particles.

Piha's rock outcrops and the dunes are daunting spectacles - almost as daunting as the raging surf - and as I stride along the beach I'm transfixed by the rugged nature of the place.

The sky is now a milky white. A grey-white glare gives the scene an extra edge and I am struck by Piha's special beauty.

Now, however, we need to keep on the move if we want to take a look at the equally dramatic Karekare beach.

I wonder why there aren't hundreds of people on Karekare beach. Well, for one, by now it's blowing a real gale. We slog across the sprawling grey-black shore in the wind, sea tumultuous, sands threatening to strike like tiny little shreds of shrapnel. It's not the kind of beach I'm used to. I keep my anorak on.

Just when I think I've seen everything that is unusual in a beach, I sight Karekare Surf Club clinging with a white-knuckle grip but half-buried, nevertheless, in the strange black sands.

But this is not the present surf club, I am reminded. The one I see before me had to be dug out of the sands every season, so it has been replaced by a new one, just beyond the dunes.

We walk there and I observe a solitary flag. Where's the other? Today it's likely to have been blown back to downtown Auckland.

I leave Karekare beach and return to the rainforest. Now the air becomes calm and we take the so-called Auckland City Walk to see 1000-year-old kauri trees, one with a girth of 6.5m. There are mature totara trees, too. These giants were once used to make Maori canoes.

So the day ends, enjoying the flora of the rainforest. The seemingly delicate rata vine, given time, develops into a sinuously formed tree. The bushman's mattress fern, so soft and feathery, was used to bed down on. The basil bush, once used for toothache, is now found in marinades. The black supplejack vine is so strong it holds the weight of a man, yet its delicate asparagus-like tips are edible.

These and other strange, wonderful places make Auckland's environs special. 

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This website was designed and written by  Bobbie Carroll