Mount Maunganui is a town in the
Bay of PlentyThe Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BoP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, located on a
peninsulaA peninsula is a piece of land that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paenīnsula : paene, almost + īnsula, island.A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit....
to the north of the neighbouring city Tauranga, which Mount Maunganui fought fiercely during the 1950s to retain independence from, then fail with the completion of the harbour bridge in 1988. It is also the name of the extinct
volcanic3. Conduit
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15...
cone which rises above the town (which is now officially known by its
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
name Mauao). According to Maori legend, this hill was a pononga [slave] to a mountain called Otanewainuku. It is colloquially known in New Zealand simply as
The Mount. The town itself is located on top of a sand bar that connects Mauao to the mainland, a geographical formation known as a
tomboloA tombolo or sometimes ayre is a deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar. Once attached the island is then known as a tied island...
. Because of this formation, the residents of Mount Maunganui are lucky enough to have both a harbour beach (Pilot Bay) and an ocean beach with great surf, within a short distance (At the base of Mauao, the distance between the harbour and ocean side is a couple of
blocksA city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
).
Character
Mount Maunganui is regarded as a coastal resort town, although
Port of TaurangaPort of Tauranga is the port of Tauranga, New Zealand, the largest port in the country in terms of total cargo volume, and the second largest in terms of container throughput. with Port of Tauranga Ltd being the company operating it...
, a major facility, is also partly located on the western (harbour) side. It is also well-known for the quality of its
surfingSurfing is most commonly known, the term is used for a surface water sport in which the person surfing moves along the face of a breaking ocean wave . However, surfing is not restricted to saltwater, but can sometimes take place on rivers, using a standing wave...
conditions, though parts of the beach are notoriously dangerous. The harbour bridge was opened in 1988, linking Mount Maunganui with Tauranga. Currently, a duplication bridge is being built ( Open Dec 2009* ) which will form the link in Tauranga and Mount Maunganui's growing motorway system.
A large container terminal and overseas wharf is located at Mount Maunganui. A branch railway from the East Coast Main Trunk railway runs between Te Maunga and Mount Maunganui.
The conical headland which gives the town its name is 232 metres in height, and dominates the mostly flat surrounding countryside. It was formerly a Māori
paThe word pā traditionally refers to a Māori village or settlement. In contemporary Western usage, it has come to refer to a Māori hillfort from the 17th - 19th centuries, that was fortified with palisades and earthworks such as defensive terraces. Prior to the 1960s, any Māori settlement,...
, and the remains of trenches can be seen in the ridges, as well as ancient shell
middenA midden, also known as a kitchen midden, or a shell heap, is a dump for domestic waste. The word is of Scandinavian via Middle English derivation, but is used by archaeologists worldwide to describe any kind of feature containing waste products relating to day-to-day human life...
s. Today, it is open to the public year round, and is a popular place to either walk around, or climb up. From the summit, a good stretch of coastline can be seen in either direction, as well as the
Kaimai RangesThe Kaimai Range is a mountain range in the North Island of New Zealand. It can be seen as a continuation southwards of the hills of the Coromandel Peninsula, and separates the Waikato in the west from the Bay of Plenty in the east...
to the west.
The town was the home of
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress Jessica Rose of
Lonelygirl15lonelygirl15 was an interactive web-based video series which began in June 2006, and ended on August 1, 2008, with a Japanese dub slated for release in 2009....
fame.
Mount Maunganui also features the popular
Bayfair shopping centre. The centre is one of the largest in the North Island outside Auckland and Wellington. It features a large
FarmersThe Farmers Trading Company operates 56 department stores and three homestores in New Zealand. The chain is considered more up-market than competitors like The Warehouse. Farmers has stores in all of the major New Zealand markets, and anchors most of the major malls...
,
KmartKmart Australia is a discount department store chain, that operates in Australia . Wesfarmers operates Kmart Australia Ltd under license from Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States-based Sears Holdings Corporation .There are 182 Kmart stores...
,
CountdownCountdown is a New Zealand full-service discount supermarket chain owned by Woolworths Limited.Founded in 1981, Countdown is now the flagship brand of Progressive Enterprises, Woolworths' New Zealand supermarket subsidiary, with 70 supermarkets across New Zealand...
,
WoolworthsWoolworths is a New Zealand wide supermarket chain and a unit of Woolworths Limited.- 1929 - 1979 Woolworths :Founded in 1929 by Percy Christmas, the chain was separated from the parent company Woolworths Limited in Australia and was called Woolworths New Zealand...
, plus over 80 specialty stores and a food court all situated on 1 level.
Population of Mt Maunganui & Suburbs (2001
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
): 30,387.
Sporting Events
Every year the Mt Maunganui beach hosts the Northern Regional Surf Championships (NRC's), and other events like the NZ Under 14 Ocean Athlete Championships and the Pro Volleyball Tour. The Port of Tauranga Half Ironman triathlon is held at Mt Maunganui.
Artificial reef
New Zealand's first
artificial reefAn artificial reef is a man-made, underwater structure, typically built for the purpose of promoting marine life in areas of generally featureless bottom.Artificial reefs may also serve to improve hydrodynamics for surfing or to control beach erosion....
has been installed at the Mount. Construction of the reef was hampered by lack of funds and ironically, too many waves. Initially the public was told the reef would cost about $500k, but costs escalated to $800k, and to date have exceeded $1.5M. Recently the media has reported that local surfers are disappointed with the waves produced by the reef. The reef has also been blamed for creating
ripsA rip current is a strong channel of water flowing away from the shoreline, typically through the surf line, and can occur on any shore that has breaking waves. The water flows seaward from near the shore. Typical flow is at 0.5 meters per second , and can be as fast as 2.5 meters per second...
.
Ownership
On May 14, 2008, New Zealand's Parliament adopted legislation whereby ownership of Mount Maunganui was transferred from the Crown to the Ngati Te Rangi,
Ngati RanginuiNgāti Ranginui is a Māori iwi centred in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. Ngāti Ranginui is one of the three Tauranga Moana tribes, maintaining close ties with Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Pūkenga. In the 2001 census, 6,120 people claimed affiliation to the iwi, representing 9 hapu...
and
Ngati PukengaNgāti Pūkenga is a Māori iwi centred in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. According to the 2006 census, 1,785 people claimed affiliation to the iwi. Ngāti Pūkenga is one of the three Tauranga Moana tribes, maintaining close ties with Ngaiterangi and Ngāti Ranginui. The Tauranga...
iwiIn New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori populations. The word iwi means "people" or "folk"; in many contexts it may mean "tribe" or "clan", and sometimes a larger grouping of tribes...
. The land had been alienated following the 1863 land wars.
External links