The Bay of Plenty is one of New Zealand’s main tourist destinations, with its unending golden sand beaches and great surfing areas coupled with inlets and bays that are perfect for relaxing and enjoying a great holiday.
It is the capital for sports orientated aquatic activities from ironman and surfing competitions to ocean jet boat racing and international yachting stopovers. There are whales to watch and dolphins playing around the boats, it is not rare to see these and pods of orca fairly close into the shore or in the harbour itself.
It is also home to New Zealand’s largest export port and commercial centre of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. The Port of Tauranga sees more than 40 cruise ship visits each year bringing tourists in to take part in everything from the laidback café culture lifestyle of the Mount to the wonderful sights and scenes of the thermal wonderland that is, Rotorua.
Temperature-wise, the weather is mild most of the year round, with quite hot summer months between January and April. The sunny climate is ideal for growing avocados, kiwi fruit, citrus and other subtropical fruits for which the region is renowned. In fact, Te Puke, official home of the kiwifruit, produces more than 40% of New Zealand’s overall production of the internationally recognised delicacy.
