TAURANGA & SURROUNDS

PĀPĀMOA HILLS

About a 20-minute drive south of Mount Maunganui, the Pāpāmoa Hills Regional Park gives locals a similar coastal viewpoint with a tad less huffing and puffing. The 135-hectare park is best known for a walking track that weaves through native bush and open grassland and ends with a panoramic coastal vista (with plenty of cows nearby).

TE PUNA QUARRY PARK (RIGHT)

Te Puna Quarry Park is an award-winning community garden created by volunteers in a disused quarry 15 kilometres north of Tauranga. The property is defined by specialized plantings and individual gardens such as sensory, butterfly and bonsai. There is a native arboretum, waterfall picnic areas, history to learn and more than 40 sculptures in an ever-increasing collection of local works.

MOUNT MAUNGANUI

Mount Maunganui is a curious thing as it is both an extinct volcano and a tombolo which is a mound (or tumulus) at the end of a sandbar. And this is the fun thing about tombolos — on one side is a crashing ocean beach, and just a (big) stone’s throw in the other direction is more peaceful Pilot Bay. Walkers can choose between the base track, a 45-minute walk around the maunga, or a steep hike to the summit. If a photo is worth a thousand words, then the peak is worth much, much more. The iconic viewpoint, immortalized on countless smartphones and cameras, is synonymous with Mount Maunganui and Tauranga.

KAIATE FALLS

Kaiate Falls, about a 25-minute drive from Tauranga, is proof that the journey is sometimes just as good as the destination. The 45-minute loop walk rises along three tiers of cascading waterfalls and concludes with a real showstopper — the lower waterfall dramatically plunges from 15 metres high into a wide pool of water below.