A fun beach run along Thornton Beach in the eastern Bay of Plenty, with a scenic approach from just out of Matatā through to Thornton. The route follows open sand, which can be soft in places, so air down and come prepared. Keep an eye out for other beach users, as it can get busy. The real highlight lies across the river at Thornton cut, where a large 4WD dune park offers an extensive network of open tracks catering to all difficulty levels, plus varying degrees of sand softness to test yourself on. To reach the dune system, most visitors recommend accessing it from the Thornton lagoon side and finding the tracks over the cut, rather than crossing the river directly. It's a highly rated outing that combines a relaxed coastal drive with plenty of hands-on dune playground options for all abilities.