Oreti Beach, Invercargill
Oreti Beach, located just 15 minutes from Invercargill City, Southland, is one of the few beaches in New Zealand where you can drive on the beach with your car, motorhome or motorbike.
However, please respect the rules of the beach when you go there. See the green box on this page—we have highlighted some of the local council’s laws. Enjoy and respect!
We recommend you go at sunset. The sun sets right before you to the west, directly over the water, so you get stunning sunsets. It makes for great photography or videos. Watch the video on this page to see what we are talking about.
Avoid driving on the soft, sandy part of the beach – this could kill juvenile toheroa. Stay off the dunes if you’re in a vehicle – they’re an important part of the ecosystem and please don’t dump your rubbish or leave behind litter.
We saw many cars out on the beach watching the sunset, especially travellers in their campervans. What a great view from which to cook your dinner. We reckon it could be one of the best places to view a sunset in New Zealand. The colours seem too vibrant to be real.
Oreti Beach is a beautiful place to visit when travelling through Southland, New Zealand. It’s one of the places you won’t be familiar with as it’s not over-promoted as a “must-do.” There are many great places to visit like this in New Zealand. See my travel page to view some more.
Burt Munro set a New Zealand Open Beach record of 131.38 mph at Oreti Beach in 1957
Oreti Beach is approximately 26 kilometres in length. This was perfect for Southland’s motorcycling hero Burt Munro as a testing and racing site for his modified Indian motorcycle, featured in the movie “The World’s Fastest Indian”. Burt Munro typified the Kiwi attitude of simply getting things done to achieve something – nothing flashy, do the job.
In February 1957, Burt Munro set a New Zealand Open Beach record of 131.38 mph on his Indian motorbike at Oreti Beach. Then, in 1975, he raised his speed to 136 mph. That is fast on the sand!
