Far North kaitiaki are losing their patience with drivers "winging it" to get to Ahipara's surf breaks.
A car pulled from rocks at Te Kōhanga / Shipwreck Bay on Sunday. Photo: Supplied
The waves around Te Kōhanga / Shipwreck Bay are world-famous but changing tides, sinking sands and rocky outcrops are a life-threatening hazard for drivers along the shore.
Tangata whenua say the number of vehicles getting stranded is growing exponentially.
On Saturday night, rescuers pulled out a stranded van and the next morning, they salvaged a flipped car.
Not only is the petrol, oil and debris a pollution problem - kaitiaki like Patau Tepania said drivers' lives were at risk.
"Cars are made for on the road not for on the beach... Someone could easily get killed."
To make matters worse, tangata whenua were sometimes ridiculed for warning fishermen, surfers and drivers of the risks, Tepania said.
"The general public points their finger at us and they're saying: 'Oh bloody Māoris who are they to dictate what we can and can't do on the coast, it's a public zone'."
He thought the Far North District Council should do more public messaging and enforcement.
In a statement, council infrastructure manager Andy Finch acknowledged there could be gaps in safety signage, and the council was investigating the issue.
Manuhiri have to cross iwi land, owned by Te Kōhanga trustees, to get to the beaches.
Trustee Tui Te Paa said the last thing she wanted to see was vehicles locked out.
But she said it was an obvious solution to stop kaitiaki "losing it" and people "winging it".
"We've got to come to some kind of agreement, but it's on our terms."
Visitors rarely took responsibility for their mistakes on the beach, but the car driver on Sunday did, she said.
The young surfer raised the alarm, apologised and helped with the clean-up.
"The car ended up looking like a crumpled up piece of tin foil that you take off a roast in the oven. Tangaroa had really smacked this thing around."
Ahipara Boardriders Club president Daniel Bird said the famous breaks around Te Kōhanga / Shipwreck Bay were getting busier, and hundreds of people were in the waves on the weekend.