A popular destination for tourists and locals, Mount Maunganui is an expansive seaside suburb, home to the 232m high Mauao, also known as The Mount. This lies at the end of a peninsula packed with homes, apartments, and an epic beach.

Mauao is a volcanic cone about half forested, with the rest presumably felled for grazing animals. I started with the 1.2km Waikorire Track, which is the shortest route to the summit, with a number of steps.

It offered some great views looking back toward Mount Maunganui and Tauranga across the harbour.

A short detour goes to a lookout with the best views of the Port of Tauranga, the beach, and endless sprawl of Mount Maunganui.

It also offered a great view of Hopukiore (Mount Drury), which I would head up later on.

The views from here were better than from the actual summit.

I took the 2km Motukauri Track back down, which is gentler, though gravel and slippery in places.

It gets more gradual toward the end.

I then headed up the nearby Hopukiore (Mount Drury) Reserve, which is much smaller than the Mount, but was worth a quick explore, particularly for the beautiful trees on the northern side.

A couple of days later I returned to hike up to the summit of Mauao, and then walked the 3.4km Te Ara Tutanga around the base of The Mount. This was more varied and beautiful than I expected for some reason, the equal of heading to the summit.

It’s a much easier walk along a flat, well graded path.

There was a sizeable seal blending in with the rocks.

The northern side had some interesting rock formations before returning to where I started.