Bay of Plenty & East Cape

About the Bay of Plenty & East Cape

The Bay of Plenty stretches along the North Island's central-east coast, anchored by Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, before the coastline narrows and turns properly remote around East Cape — the easternmost point of mainland New Zealand, and among the first inhabited places on Earth to greet each new day. The East Cape Lighthouse, reached by a short but steep walk up 700-odd steps, marks the spot; nearby Te Araroa is home to a giant, centuries-old pohutukawa tree, Te Waha o Rerekohu, one of the largest of its kind in the country.

The loop road around the Cape (SH35) is largely unsealed in stretches and passes through small, sparsely populated communities rather than tourist infrastructure — it's a genuinely different pace from the rest of the North Island's east coast. Whakatāne, at the Bay of Plenty's eastern edge, sits opposite Whakaari/White Island, an active offshore volcano visible from the mainland on clear days.

Freedom camping here

Bay of Plenty Regional Council area councils (Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty, Whakatāne, and Ōpōtiki) each set their own zones, and the busier beach towns around Mount Maunganui restrict freedom camping more tightly than the quieter East Cape stretch, where facilities are sparser but rules are generally less crowded to navigate. Self-sufficiency matters more out here — fuel, water and supply stops are further apart than on more developed parts of the coast.

Good to know

• Fuel up before starting the East Cape loop — stations are infrequent once past Ōpōtiki heading east.
• Unsealed sections of SH35 can be slow going in a larger van; allow more time than the distance suggests.
• Whakaari/White Island is an active volcano and landing on it is closed to the public following a 2019 eruption — it's viewable from a distance only.