A report of the Waikawa Beach Facebook page today of someone stung by a stingray:
Keep an eye out for stingrays basking in the warm shallows. We helped a couple back to their car yesterday after the woman received two quite big wounds on her ankle – from one or two stingrays that she walked into/startled as she came out of the water. She was in quite a bit of pain but was able to bandage it and stop the bleeding with a scarf and walk to the car – then they headed for medical help. We made sure to splash a lot in the water after that!
This occurred about 11 ish at the northern part of the beach – north of the track across the dunes that is accessed from the forest.
Commenters pointed out they’ve seen stingrays around recently too.