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The Bay of Plenty stretches along the pohutukawa tree-studded coast from Waihi Beach to Opotiki and inland as far as the Kaimai Range. This is where New Zealanders have come on holiday for generations, lapping up salt-tinged activities and lashings of sunshine.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Bay of Plenty.
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The city's pre-eminent gallery stages challenging exhibitions of thought-provoking contemporary work. The building itself is a former bank, though you’d hardly know it − the atrium can hold massive works, and it’s an altogether excellent space with no obvious compromise.
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Surrounded by mature trees and lovely gardens, Tauranga's original mission station incorporates the Bay of Plenty's earliest buildings, along with one of the country's oldest oaks and first pianos. Fascinating guided tours tell the story of the mission, founded by Anglican priest Alfred Nesbit Brown in 1838, and its relations with local Māori. The property remained in the extended Brown family until 1997, retaining much of its original furniture, books and other chattels. The oldest building is Nesbit Brown's free-standing office, built in 1838. The family lived in a whare (traditional house) built of bulrushes until 1847, when the house was completed. There's also a reconstructed chapel (the original fell down) and various outbuildings.
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Hairy Maclary author Lynley Dodd lived in Tauranga for years, and NZ’s favourite literary animals were immortalised in bronze on Tauranga’s wharf in 2015. They’re all here – Hairy Maclary, Slinky Malinki, Bottomley Potts et al – customarily harassing Scarface Claw. Just hope the kids aren’t too disappointed on discovering that Hercules Morse really isn’t as big as a horse.
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Country-club-like Mills Reef, 7km southwest of the city centre at Bethlehem, has tastings of its award-winning wines. This isn't grape-growing country, so grapes are sourced from NZ's most acclaimed wine regions. There's also a refined restaurant that's open for brunch and lunch daily (mains $30 to $35).
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This shady little cemetery, overlooking the bridge, has some interesting memorials relating to battles fought between local Māori and government forces in the 1860s. A prominent red-granite monument honours Rāwiri Puhirake, a Ngāi Te Rangi chief remembered for issuing a code of conduct for dealing mercifully with British civilians and wounded soldiers during the conflict.
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Shaded by huge pohutukawa trees, spooky Monmouth Redoubt was originally a Māori pā (fortified village), then taken over and adapted by British soldiers during the New Zealand Wars. At the foot of the Redoubt, on the end of the Strand, is Te Awanui, a ceremonial waka (canoe) carved in 1972, on display in an open-sided building.
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On clear days this lofty wooden viewing platform, located about 13km west of the city centre, provides a panorama of nearly the entire Bay of Plenty – see if you can spot Whakaari (White Island) steaming away in the distance. To get here, take SH2 to Te Puna and turn south on Minden Rd; the lookout is about 3km up the road.
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At its best in late spring and summer, this verdant pocket of roses sits behind an ivy-covered colonnade on a cliff overlooking the harbour, and is like a formal European garden. The beautifully maintained tropical greenhouse features delicate orchids and giant staghorn ferns.
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Located on a nondescript suburban street, this marae (traditional meeting place) has a sensationally carved wharenui (meeting house). This is the private property of the Ngāi Tamarāwaho hapū (subtribe) of the Ngati Ranginui people. Unless you happen to be formally invited in, you'll have to be content with peering through the gate. Hūria is the Māori version of 'Judea', which is the name of the surrounding suburb.