Paul doesn't like driving on the beach when the tide is more than three hours in.

The softer sand higher up the beach can overheat the automatic transmissions in some four wheel drive vehicles.

Paul blew an automatic gearbox in less than five kilometers driving on the high tide line about eight years ago.

He has now fitted an external intercooler to the gearbox which is advisable for anyone who does a lot of beach or offroad driving.

It keeps the gearbox cooler for longer in harsh soft sand. Continued under map

Click on any button to get the tide times for that area. The results open in a new window.

If fishing over the top of the tide Paul now plans his trips to arrive at the beach when the tide is less than two hours incoming. He stays on the beach for a minimum of six hours, parking out of reach of the rising tide, and comes back on the outgoing tide.

When fishing over the low tide he arrives when the tide is three hours out and heads back before the incoming tide is three hours in. Paul believes fishing over the top of the tide produces better snapper catches and the bottom of the outgoing tide is best for gurnard and kahawai.