Tawhitokino Regional Park Auckland, New Zealand

A tiny (4.4 hectare) regional park overlooking the Firth of Thames and the Coromandel, Tawhitokino features a beautiful pohutukawa fringed beach and a secluded grassy camping site accessible by foot traffic only. Long occupied by Maori, the beach front still contains a series of shell middens, kumara pits and strategically located fortified pa on the headlands at either end of the beach. The land was extensively logged in the late 1800s and is now predominantly pasture and regenerating native bush. Tawhitokino beach is accessible from a car park located at the end of Kawakawa Bay Road.