We went to the Beach on a rainy Saturday morning on Waitangi weekend. It was not raining when we arrived, but only a few cars were in the parking lot. We walked along the Waitakere River down to the beach and turned toward the large sea cave at the other end of the beach. When we were about two-thirds of the way there, it began to rain. The wind was blowing in from the Tasman Sea, causing the rain to fall sideways. My right side was soaked and my left side was relatively dry. The beauty of it was that we had the beach all to ourselves for at least a half hour, and it never was crowded. The sea cave was amazing for its large size. The daylight penetrates all the way to the back. The sandy floor was damp, but the cave was relatively dry at low tide. We waited inside until the rain sqalls passed. Then we explored the other sea cave, which is not as wide or high but just as deep. I was able to walk upright for all but the last few meters, where I crawled into the darkness until the passage became too small to navigate. Back outside, we explored tide pools full of small crabs and prawns. We were never tempted to swim in the dangerous surf, but we did wade into the shallows as we walked back down the beach. We also waded up a small stream and explored its canyon. By the time we made it back to the river, the wind had picked up and was pelting us with the fine volcanic black sand, but then we left. We spent about three hours at the beach. It was fabulous.