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.
