Castlepoint

Castlepoint is one of the North Island's most striking bits of coast: a white lighthouse on a curving reef, a safe lagoon for swimming and the bulk of Castle Rock rising behind. It's remote Wairarapa, a scenic drive over the hills from Wellington or Masterton.

Camp beside the beach and walk out to the lighthouse at sunrise. Bring everything you need — the nearest big town is a fair way back.

Castlepoint is a two-hour drive east from Masterton through farmland and feels a long way from anywhere, which it is. The lighthouse walk takes twenty minutes and the reef below it is exposed enough that people get caught by waves every year — stay well back from the water on the seaward side. The beach itself runs for kilometres and is usually empty outside the summer holidays.