Umupuia Beach, also known as Duders Beach, is on the Pōhutukawa Coast in Auckland, along the stunning Maraetai Coast Road. It is 6 km southeast of Maraetai and 10 km north of Clevedon, accessible via North Road. Duder Regional Park is positioned on the Whakakaiwhara Peninsula, which lies east of the beach.
The beach is the longest on the Pōhutukawa Coast at 1.5 km. It is not as beautiful as the beaches near Maraetai, but it is accessible and will have fewer people on a nice day. Swimming is safe but will be better at high tide, with wide flats to the east exposed as the tide goes out. You can also walk around the rocky west side of Whakakaiwhara Peninsula to access the regional park once the tide has retreated.
The area is long associated with Ngāi Tai iwi, who descended from the Tainui waka and have a history of occupying the peninsula and the flatter lands south to the Wairoa River. The rest of the Pōhutukawa Coast was part of their rohe, within which they gathered resources as needed. Around the time trade with Europeans commenced in the early 1800s, Ngāi Tai rangatira moved to Urupuia, making it more important to the iwi. Umumpuia remained with the iwi after a series of land sales and government and court actions that saw most of the iwi lands removed from iwi control by the mid-1860s.
Today, the Ngāi Tai marae is over the road from the beach, towards the west end of the beach. The beach is a public beach below the high tide mark and a private beach owned by iwi members above the high tide mark. However, there is public access from the road along the beach.
