The town of
Pauanui meaning Big Paua (abalone) in Maori is on the east coast of the
Coromandel PeninsulaThe Coromandel Peninsula lies in the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Waikato region and extends 85 kilometres north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier to protect the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the west from the Pacific Ocean to the...
in the
North IslandThe North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of
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...
. It lies at the mouth of the
Tairua RiverThe Tairua River is located on the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand.It flows north and then northeast for a total of 35 kilometres from its source in the Coromandel Range to the west of Whangamata, passing through the town of Hikuai before reaching the Pacific Ocean at Tairua...
on its south bank, directly opposite the larger town of
TairuaThe town of Tairua is on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the mouth of the Tairua River on its north bank and on the small Paku Peninsula...
. The population was 741 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 42 from 2001.
The two settlements are 30 kilometres east of
ThamesThames is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River, at . The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council.The town was initially built during a gold rush,...
. Several islands lie off the mouth of the river, notably
Slipper IslandSlipper Island or is located three kilometres to the east of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island and eight kilometres southeast of the town of Pauanui. It is a beach resort privately owned by Abe Needham's 14 children, making it one of the few privately owned islands in New...
to the southeast and the
Alderman IslandsThe Alderman Islands are a small group of rocky islets to the southeast of Mercury Bay in the North Island of New Zealand. They are located off the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, 20 kilometres east of the mouth of the Tairua River....
20 kilometres to the East.
The area is a popular holiday destination, with an estimated summer holiday maker population of over 15,000, and is popularly imagined as a resort enclave for Auckland's upper-middle classes - properties with views of the ocean are regularly sold for over NZ$1 million.
The settlement has an airstrip used by recreational light-aircraft pilots and is noted for game fishing,
divingDiving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
,
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...
and its excellent beach.