Helena Falls Beach in the Catlins on the Pacific coast is beautiful and secluded. It barely features on maps (unnamed on Topo NZ) but sits between Pūrākaunui Bay and Tahakopa Bay. There is also the nearby Helena Falls on Waihake Stream, which flows to the beach. The beach is 8 km along Long Point Road, accessible from Pūrākaunui Road and an easy side trip for visits to Pūrākaunui Falls and Pūrākaunui Bay. Note that the road is gravel, narrow and windy in sections. There are no facilities and no room for freedom camping.
You will see a Helena Falls Reserve sign as you approach the coast. Stop nearby where possible, and you will hear the waterfall. See if you can push through the scrub immediately behind the sign (there were no markers or obvious path). If you can, you will have a good view near the top of Helena Falls. There is no view of the falls from the private property access near the sign.
Continue down the road a short distance; there is a large sign for Helena Falls Beach and a parking area. The beach is a reserve set up in 2009 by the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust. Forest and Bird manages a predator control program and monitors the penguins. You may also see kekeno (fur seals), pakake (sea lions), and various seabirds.
Park by the sign, and there is a gate. It is a 200-metre walk to the beach through long grass and then dunes on the west side of the stream. The path gets little traffic, and the section in the long grass was untrampled and very wet after rain, although the stream was easy to cross.
The golden sand beach, backed by dunes, is only about 300 metres wide and one of the smallest accessible beaches in the Catlins. However, it also faces south, with cliffs on either side to funnel southerly winds on stormy days. So, choose a nice calm day to visit if you want to stay a while.
