Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BAY OF PLENTY
The Bay of Plenty stretches along the pohutukawa-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-licked activities and lashings of sunshine.
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Tauranga
POP 114,800
Tauranga (pronounced 'toe-rung-ah') has been booming since the 1990s and remains one
of NZ's fastest-growing cities. It's also NZ's busiest port − with petrol refineries and moun-
tains of coal and lumber − but it's beach-seeking holidaymakers who have seen the old
workhorse reborn as a show pony. Restaurants and bars line the vamped-up waterfront,
fancy hotels rise high, and the once-sleepy burbs of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa have
woken up to new prosperity. This is about as Riviera as NZ gets. Online,
www.downtowntauranga.co.nz
is a commercial but useful resource.
