Skip to main content

Story: King Country places

Waikawau tunnel and beach

Waikawau tunnel and beach

One of the few publicly accessible parts of the coastline between Marokopa and Awakino, which are almost 60 kilometres apart by road, is at Waikawau beach. Access is via a narrow tunnel through the sandstone cliffs, which was made in 1911 by three men armed only with picks and shovels. It was constructed so cattle could be driven to and from Nukuhakare Station, on the hills above the tunnel. The farm is hilly and it was easier to drive the cattle along the beach than across the rough terrain. These days the tunnel is used by people rather than cows.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Jock Phillips (top); A. D. Wright (bottom)

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, King Country places – West coast, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/34643/waikawau-tunnel-and-beach (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 6 December 2011, updated 1 March 2015.

Comments

Sharon Erdrich
04 January 2023
We were disappointed there was no plaque at the tunnel .. Also it would be great to honour the men that carved the tunnel - are their names known?
Janet Hunt
05 September 2017
The observation that this is the only publicly accessible part of the coastline between Marokopa and Awakino is not correct. There's beach access at Kiritehere Beach north of Waikawau.