Oreti Beach at Dunns Road

Used by a variety of different recreational users, including swimmers, kite surfers and windsurfers, this beach is not very popular with board surfers as the waves break a long way from shore. Traffic can be an issue on the beach and it is a very popular area with dog walkers and horse riders, so care needs to be taken. The area can be quite exposed to the wind and it does regularly have rips and holes, so is patrolled by surf lifesavers during the summer months. Environment Southland measures water quality here during summer (December to March).

This large sandy beach is backed by even larger sand dunes. The beach stretches for 26 km and was the key filming location for the movie 'The Worlds Fastest Indian' as it was also the testing and racing sight for Burt Munro's modified Indian motorcycle in real life.

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Water Quality

Passed water quality tests 60-95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on March 26th, 2023. The Swim Guide - New Zealand updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on March 26th, 2023 at 8:50 PM.

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Southland Regional Council monitors water quality at popular swimming beaches throughout the Southland region.

Water quality data on Swim Guide is sourced from the LAWA Can I Swim Here? website. www.lawa.org.nz/swim

At this site, water is regularly tested for levels of Enterococci during the summer months. This faecal indicator bacteria is used to indicate the level of harmful pathogens in the water.

See information on recreational water quality monitoring in New Zealand in this LAWA factsheet.

Beach sites are shown as a GREEN swim icon if the latest Enterococci test result was in the range of 0 - 280 Enterococci / 100 mL.

Beach sites are shown as a RED swim icon if the latest test result exceeded 280 Enterococci / 100 mL or frequently exceeds the standard or there is a temporary water quality issue outside the routine testing programme (e.g. sewage overflow).

See information on the standards for recreational water quality monitoring in New Zealand in the 'What do the swim icons mean?' LAWA factsheet.

LAWA recommends for all sites, to avoid swimming for 2 - 3 days after significant rain, even for sites that normally have good water quality.

A good rule of thumb is to check that you can see your toes in knee deep water.

See www.lawa.org.nz/swim for up to date information on current warnings and alerts, weather conditions, tides, real-time water temperatures, what facilities are available, the monitoring history at this site and helpful factsheets.

Water Quality Graph