Bay of Plenty

White Island (Whakaari)

Just 50 kilometres off the coast from Whakatane in the eastern Bay of Plenty lies an active volcano. White Island is an otherworldly landscape of bubbling mud pools, hot thermal streams and plumes of steam.

Mount Maunganui (Mauao)

An impossible-to-miss landmark in the Tauranga region, the cone of Mt Maunganui rises from the end of an isthmus between Tauranga Harbour and the Pacific Ocean.

White-sand beaches

The long arc of the Bay of Plenty offers superb sandy beaches all the way from the Coromandel Peninsula to East Cape: Mt Maunganui, Papamoa, Maketu and Ohope are some of the most popular.

Café culture in Tauranga

The city of Tauranga, just a stone’s throw from the beaches of Mt Maunganui, offers great harbourside shopping, dining and coffee.

Wairoa River

The Wairoa River offers some of the best white-water conditions anywhere in New Zealand, starting with gentle Grade 2 cascades and building to thundering Grade 5 rapids.

Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park

Situated in the Kaimai Ranges of the western Bay of Plenty, this forest park offers stunning scenery – from lush rainforest thickly carpeted with ferns to Kauri trees and waterfalls.