Waikutakuta / Robin Hood Bay is 14 km along Port Underwood Road from Rarangi, on Cook Strait and just south of the entrance to Whanganui / Port Underwood. The second half of the drive is on gravel and very windy, and it is not as pretty as Pukatea / Whites Beach. It is surrounded by farmland with some exotic pine forests on the hills. The advantage is fewer people in a still very pretty location. The beach is about 900 metres long and mostly sandy, making it big for the region. It is also quite sheltered from Cook Strait, making it safe for swimming.
A DOC campsite is immediately to your left as you enter the bay. But in practice, you can probably camp on the grass verge overlooking the north end of the beach. Although it is near the road, this section is sealed to eliminate excess dust.
The unusual European name was probably after a visiting ship in the early 1800s. There is evidence Māori farmed the area with kūmara gardens pre-European, which subsequently became sheep farms. At the bay's north end is an old stone cottage that dates back to the late 1840s, one of the oldest surviving buildings in the region.
