The tour departs at 10:00am from central Auckland. Central Auckland goes from the Skytower outwards 2kms roughly. We can pick you up from most places in that radius. And drop you back.

Two reasons. Traffic. Yuck! And letting customers have a little sleep in!

We say you will be back between 3:30 - 4:00pm, so a solid six hours. It isn't impossible that we are not back on time - it happens. If you are on a cruise ship let us know and we will make the finish time a priority. Otherwise, if people are having fun, so are we. :)

As long as we have space we will take you. Your booking needs to be in before 9:00am.

No, you don't need to be a triathelete. A moderate level of fitness is needed - we take small children, elderly people, and generally all ages. It isn't really a wheelchair friendly tour, due to the locations being very remote. But if you can walk, you will be fine on the Black Sand Adventure. Some of the activities, if they aren't your thing, you can opt out of, and just enjoy the beautiful scenery and relax for a bit.

When we have a lot of 20-something backpackery types, activities might include cliff dives, cave swims, epic surf swims, etc. When we have families and kids, activities might include nice waterfall swims, beautiful lakes and river walks, and if we have some of the older age-bracket, activities might include photography at gannet colonies, nice beach walks. We try to fit what our customers want on the day.

• Togs: Togs are Kiwi for SWIMMING CLOTHES. Even if it's winter and you think you wont swim, you will likely cross rivers, pools, get splashed by surf. Togs are essential for maximum fun on this day. You may not swim, but you will want the option.
• Jandals: This is Kiwi for FLIPFLOPS or what the Australians bizzarely call 'Thongs'. Footwear that is easy to take on (when the sand is hot, or we are walking on rocks) or take off (when we wade across rivers, pools, etc).
• Track shoes: Some people prefer them on rocks.
• Water: there is no drinkable water in any of the places we go.
• Sunscreen: You can burn in NZ much faster than anywhere else in the world (hole in Ozone Layer) - bring sunscreen.
• A raincoat: NZ has 4 seasons in one day. Even if the sky is blue - bring a raincoat. It will protect you from the wind.
• Camera: Especially waterproof cameras are awesome. If your camera isn't waterproof, don't panic - we will be taking lots of pics of the day and they are free!

We make a pit-stop (15-20 mins) on our way to the locations, at Titirangi. This gives you the opportunity to buy a packed lunch, if you don't already have one. Or get water / sunscreen / etc.

Yes. People have loved our tour, and we love that they loved it. Our aim is 100% satisfied customers, and we hope that never changes.

Yes. But only in certain conditions. Big surf, large sand-dumps and weird tidal movements are things that can rule it out. It isn't always a good idea. But if it is on the day we take you, we will definately do it.

Yes. Our guides take typically 200+ photos a day of our groups. We try to get you swimming, climbing, scrambling, in amazing scenery, rather than just posing. We operate a strict no-duckface policy. Duckface is banned on BlackSand tours! Only kidding. Make duckface if you must. If you want to see some of the photos, they are available here.

The Black Sand is very different to beaches in Hawaii or Iceland. It is still Black from iron, but it is a mixture of iron and silicon. It is for some reason the softest and finest sand in the world. It is more like dust, or powder snow... Powder snow that is warmed from the sun! It is the most amazing sand to play in / lie in / roll down / etc.

No, we will adjust the tour to suit you if you can't swim at all. We have a chat about swimming capability before we leave. Many of our customers haven't been able to swim.