If you could choose anywhere in Aotearoa to have a swim, where would you pick? For Nicola McCloy, author of Jump In – An Insider’s Guide to New Zealand’s Best Beaches, Lakes, Rivers, Pools and Hot Springs, the answer is easy.
Hands down her absolute favourite place to go for a swim is Te Hāwere-a-Maki – Goat Island, McCloy told RNZ’s Summer Times.
Located within Cape Rodney-Okakari Point Marine Reserve, about 80km north of Auckland, Goat Island is thought to have been the first gazetted marine reserve in the world, she says.
“It all came about because Auckland University set up a marine laboratory up there in the 1960s and recognised that, because there’s so many different marine environments within that small area, recognised the degradation that was happening and decided that the best way to study the area was to protect it,” she says.
Goat Island north of Auckland.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
