Cheltenham Beach
Golden crescent beach at a volcanic headland's foot, facing Rangitoto across calm water.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Cheltenham Beach in Auckland starts with a 1956 sighting at nearby North Head, when a sailor shone a torch down a narrow shaft and saw what looked like the wooden struts of an old aircraft wing. It follows the rumor that grew from there, of two historic Boeing planes supposedly sealed inside the headland's tunnels since 1918, and the believers, including one of the country's earliest aviators, who kept the story alive for decades. You'll hear about the 1983 search for that original shaft and what later investigators found when they went looking with modern equipment. Best listened to looking out at Rangitoto across the calm water, with the tunneled headland at your back.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Devonport
Volcanic headland laced with prisoner-dug tunnels built to repel an invasion that never came.
North Head
Clifftop volcanic headland riddled with hand-cut tunnels and nineteenth-century disappearing guns guarding a harbour entrance.
Mission bay Auckland
Curved harbour beach where seaplane pioneers once trained, now backed by a marble fountain and waterfront cafes.
Waiheke Island
Vineyard-dotted island laced with beaches, art studios, and a hidden wartime gun fortress.
Takarunga / Mount Victoria
Scoria-cone volcano crowned by a hidden disappearing gun and Maori pa earthworks above the harbour.
Takapuna Beach
Sandy urban beach facing a volcanic island, with a historic shark-fishing ground and twin rock outcrops.