New Zealand's Best Beach: Ōakura, Taranaki; Wainui, Gisborne; St Clair, Otago - the wildcards 22 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM 6 minutes to read NZ Herald When we launched our quest to find New Zealand's best beach, we gave readers the opportunity to vote for their favourite summer spots. This week we've been profiling your top 10. To spice things up, we asked the Herald Travel team to come up with three wildcards. Keep your votes rolling in (scroll down to the form at the bottom). We'll announce the winner in the Herald on Sunday on January 31. Herald Travel editor Stephanie Holmes admits it was impossible to include every beach Kiwis know and love in our shortlist.