Ninety Mile Beach is on the opposite side of the North Is to Paihia, but because NZ is very skinny at this point it's just a short drive. The iron sand is black like this all down the west coast of the North Is. A big Japanese company wanted to come in and mine it for the ore but of course we said no way! When I was a kid we used to take a magnet to the beach and play with the iron sand - very cool!
