Xena Warrior Princess
Locations - Piha Beach
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Panorama of Piha Beach
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One of the foremost surfing beaches of the west coast, Piha is quite
a bustling little holiday resort, particularly in the Summer. It is of
course an in-joke that the scene where Iolaus invents surfing in The Apple
was filmed on this beach.
The massive Lion Rock (101 metres high) stands out into the sea on
the northern side of the estuary of Piha Stream which flows out through
the resort effectively dividing it in two.
The beach to the north of Lion Rock is known as North Piha, and to the
south of Piha Stream is the South Beach - the south beach is a little
more sheltered from the wind and is more popular with holidaymakers
as a result.
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Another view masking the buildings
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This picture is similar to how Piha is normally shown on Hercules and
Xena where the picture is framed to hide the buildings and roads of
the holiday resort.
The north beach is the main one visible in this picture.
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Looking south from the North Piha Beach
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This view is taken from the North beach at Piha, looking south to
the impressive Lion Rock. The south beach is obscured from view
by the rock itself.
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Lion Rock and the South Beach
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This picture shows the south beach at Piha. This picture was taken
on a warm summer day (New Year's Weekend 1998) and as you can see it
was extremely popular (aka crowded - well by New Zealand standards
it was!).
This beach was the location used for the fight between the two
kingdoms in the Hercules story, The Apple.
Piha is also
featured in the New Zealand
Travel and Tourism Guide and there's even a
live webcam!
Bevis King <B.King@ee.surrey.ac.uk>
23rd August 1999
North up the coast to Bethells Valley
South down the coast to Karekare
The Locations