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Sports & Recreation

We embrace land and water sports as our right and as an integral part of who we are. We grow up playing sport with year round ‘Saturday sports’ a weekly event for many families.

All Year Round


Our climate makes it very easy for us to get outside. So does the fact that you’re likely to be home from work with tons of daylight left – plenty of time to grab the bicycle, ball, golf club, fishing rod, surfboard, boat or horse and head out into the great outdoors. If you choose to, you can be out there all year round.

Balls and More

Rugby, football, hockey, netball, cricket, touch rugby, baseball, squash, badminton. There’s also basketball, tennis and golf and more.

Elitism doesn’t really exist in the Northland golf community (although we are home to the Championship Course – Kauri Cliffs) with many spectacular golf courses affordable and accessible to everyman and woman.

Green Sanctuary

Northland has the most beautiful parks and reserves, and acre upon acre of well tracked spectacular coastline and forest to explore. Experiencing our primordial Kauri forests can be a humbling, life changing experience. 

Green spaces are available everywhere – whether you want to take a walk in the park to throw bread to the ducks or after a full on challenge – try Cape Brett! And everywhere, birdsong will fill your soul with music. Whether you put your boots or bike helmet on, the choices are sublime.

Blue Sanctuary

With such outstanding coastline, Northlander’s take to watersports like dolphins! Sailing, swimming, skiing and wave boarding, kayaking and rowing, all feature in everyday life for most of us.

And then when you dive under the surface of our oceans, you’ll be blown away again. Anywhere around the Northland east and west coasts are fabulous experiences (and you don’t have to use scuba gear – all you need is a snorkel and fins to walk off one of our many beaches to simply and quietly explore our wonderland).

Experiences worth singling out include the Poor Knights Island, a world-renowned international icon soon to be given World Heritage status and the Rainbow Warrior at Matauri Bay.

Have you had a Bite?

Fishing from jettys and wharves as a kid is where most Northlanders learn to bait a hook and their first catch is likely to be a sprat (a small fish like a herring). They usually then move on to bigger game like the beautiful eating fish, snapper, and often then to the really big marlin and tuna. Big fish make a lot of big smiles.

All Things Horses

There’s a lot of people in Northland that are able to satisfy their love of horses without breaking the bank as this sport can in many countries. Pony Clubs thrive in many rural and even semi-urban communities. All disciplines are represented and Northland is the home of world renowned equestrian, Blyth Tait.

To sum it all up, most sports are accessible and affordable. If our people want a taste, or a banquet of sport, it’s all right here, waiting to be served up.

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