The beach
The beach runs east from Cave Rock to Scarborough, under the cliffs at the far end. A sea wall and a wide path run the length of it, with a second path on the land side, so you can walk it at any tide. On a fine day it's busy with walkers, joggers, prams and people just sitting and watching the sea.
Its Māori name is Matuku Tako Tako. The bay faces out over Pegasus Bay to the open Pacific, and the beach shelves gently, which is what makes it good for both swimming and surf.
There are public toilets on the Esplanade, and changing rooms and showers by the beach. At the Scarborough end, Scarborough Park has more toilets, a children's playground, a paddling pool and plenty of shade. No dogs in the park.
Swimming
Sumner and Scarborough beaches have safe swimming and excellent surf. The safest place is always between the flags, which the lifeguards put up by the surf club when they're on.
Like any surf beach it has rips, and the council has signs about them along the beach. Keep well away from the estuary mouth at the Cave Rock end, where the tide runs hard in and out over the Sumner bar. That's no place to swim.
From November to March the council tests the water at every Christchurch beach each week. After heavy rain it's worth checking before you swim.
Surfing
Sumner is one of Christchurch's surf beaches. Learners go to the end of Stoke Street, where the waves are gentler and the surf schools work. More experienced surfers head for the Breakwater by the boat ramp at the Scarborough end, or Mussel Rock beside Cave Rock, which is best at high tide.
Over the hill, Taylors Mistake has bigger, heavier waves for good surfers. The cleanest surf comes in winter, when the water is cold, around 10°C, so it's a full wetsuit.
Cave Rock
Climb to the top for a view along the whole beach; it's an easy climb. At low tide, walk round to the seaward side and scramble through the short tidal cave, and you come out on the other side by the ramp up to the promenade. There are rock pools on the seaward side too.
The rock is old lava from the volcano that made Banks Peninsula. It used to be almost an island at high tide, before the sand built up around it. Its Māori name, Tuawera, is usually translated "cut down as if by fire", from an old story of a whale stranded on the beach. The rock is said to be the whale.
In 1864 a signal mast went up on top to guide boats over the Sumner bar, and the stone building followed in 1898, for the signals and a foghorn. Both were repaired after the earthquakes, and the mast is lit again. There's a plaque to Joseph Day, captain of the Sumner lifeboat, who saved many lives.
Check the tide before you go. Tide times for Lyttelton (close to Sumner).
Lifeguards
Sumner Surf Life Saving Club has been looking after this beach since 1911. Its volunteers patrol at weekends from mid-November to the end of March. Swim between the flags.
Through the year
Summer is the busy time. The lifeguards are out at weekends from mid-November, and from 1 November to 31 March, between 9am and 7pm, dogs aren't allowed on the beach from the surf club to Cave Rock, except passing through on a short lead.
Winter is quieter. The surf is at its best, the water's cold, and a walk along the sand with a coffee is about as good as it gets.
Scarborough
Walk east along the Esplanade and you come to Scarborough, under the cliffs at the end of the beach. Scarborough Park has the playground and paddling pool, and the café by the clock tower does lunch and a coffee.
From the end of the beach, the Flowers Track climbs Whitewash Head to Nicholson Park, with views back over Sumner and along the coast. The white on the cliffs is the shags': there's a colony below Whitewash Head.
Kite surfers ride the estuary, a short drive back towards town, when the tide is in.
