Easy coming from you Neil. Mr. NZ's #1 distance caster.
I'm with jawj on this one. Reading the beach is essential, but in Wellington the best fishing is evening and night so shorter casts are fine. 50m will put you into a fair bit of water, but consider how much line your spool contains and what size it is. You could drop your line size, and therefore its diameter creating less drag and further distance. Your rig and bait size play a part too, as does Wellies famous Northerly.