New Zealand Beach Culture
In the main, New Zealanders are descendents of two great seafaring
cultures, Polynesian and Pakeha. A residual love of the sea,
bordering on obsession, is to be found in many who live in this
intensely "island" country.
This love does not stop at the sea. The lakes and rivers are prized and revered in the same way, perhaps for their relative tranquillity and the different pastimes they afford.
Ours is often a wild and vigorous coastline and the things we love to do here reflect this. We boat, we fish, we sail, we surf, and we don't mind if these involve a contest with nature. For most of us, the beach or the lake or the river is not only a place to laze but also to live.
At the same time, any weekend will find thousands walking the sands, and in summer tens of thousands flock to golden beaches to swim, picnic or just laze in the sun.
We are lucky. Public access to beaches and lakes and rivers is a matter of government policy. Yet our beaches remain uncrowded, our lakes are still pristine and our rivers have not been fished out. Perhaps having a population of fewer than five million contributes to this.
However the benefit is unequivocal. New Zealanders love affair with the water remains intense, and this drives the performance of the waterfront property sector.
