164 WISE 
From Baylys Beach northwards sands are dark cream to cream in colour which 
arises from the presence of orange-coloured pieces in the sand. At Baylys Beach there 
are only low sand-dunes or a sand bank (ca. 2-3 m high) at the foot of cliffs but south 
of Maunganui Bluff there are open low sand-dunes. There are low dunes at the 
Waimamaku beach (Fig. 59), beside and north of the river, with variations in the sand. 
Much is acreamy colour but there are areas of whitish cream sand being partially of 
coarse clear grains. At the North Head of Hokianga Harbour very high (over 153 m) 
exposed sand-dunes stretch northwards between the harbour and the sea but at 
Mitimiti further north there is only a line of low dunes of pale cream sand. Sand-hills 
at Tauroa Peninsula are again very high (over 153 m) sloping down to low dunes at 
beach level. 
From Ahipara northwards along Ninety Mile Beach sand-dunes are low and the 
sand is dark cream as far as Hukatere. The sand then gradually becomes paler and is 
noticeably paler at The Bluff (30.5 km to the north) and paler again at Te Paki near 
the north end of Ninety Mile Beach. 
At Hukatere there is pine forest up to 5 km from the beach but in clearings a 
mustard yellow sand occurs with harder more compact outcrops containing dark 
brown veins. A similarly coloured stratum is obvious high in coastal sand cliffs at 
Baylys Beach and at The Bluff. It also occurs in cliffs at Te Werahi on the north- 
western coast where it has contributed to the colour at the top of the cliffs and on sand 
flats below. 
The fore-dunes at Te Werahi are very low and the sand is pale cream. On the 
extreme northern coast in Spirits Bay, the fore-dunes are very low and the sand at 
Kapowairua (Fig. 60) is very pale cream with windrows and patches of small polished 
white shell pieces. 
At Rarawa Beach there is a line of fore-dunes of a very fine glistening white quartz 
sand. The sand is the same in a small bay on the north-west point of Karikari Pen. 
where it is banked up a little at the top of the beach. 
South of the Whangarei Hbr. a line of fore-dunes stretches from Marsden Pt. 
(Fig. 61) to Ruakaka, Uretiti and, south of the Waipu River, Waipu Cove. The sand 
is greyish white, with elongate black pieces, as it is further south at Te Arai and Pakiri 
where there is a line of very low fore-dunes. 
Sand composition on northern coasts 
It is an interesting chance that almost continuous beach and dune sands of the 
northern North I show a range of colours from black ironsands on the southern west 
coast through light coloured sands to white glistening quartz sands on the far northern 
east coast. 
