In an effort to escape rain and big city busyness while in New Zealand, we decided to explore the Bay of Plenty area so we drove for a few hours northeast from Wellington and found ourselves at Waihi Beach.   We opted to turn right right and continued down to the end of the point at Bowentown.   We weren’t sure if we’d stay at the Bowentown Beach Holiday Park or not, but we were thoroughly delighted by the campground, the beaches, the hikes, and the ambience of the area, so we stayed for two nights and were reluctant to leave at all (but our booked flight home was a 3 hour drive to Auckland).

We camped right next to Bowentown Beach and we swam in the cool water each day.   Waihi Beach is 9 km long so we were able to take some long walks on the beach and the sand dunes.

At the south end of Waihi Beach is Te Ho Pa, once a Maori fortified hill and sacred spot.

Trails climbed over the hills to viewpoints.

Waihi Beach stretched northwards.   To the west is the Kaimai Range and islands and bays lay south of the pa.

A short side trail leads down to Cave Beach.   A number of chambers and passages lead into the limestone bluffs behind the beach.   We explored these and saw glowworms in the deeper grottos.

Anzac Beach has a small (free) campground, a nice beach, fields, and some park facilities.   We hiked over the next hill (pa) and down to a pocket beach on Shelly Bay.   Wildflowers were in bloom along the trails and behind the beaches.   We did these hikes twice in spring weather, our last days in New Zealand.   If we had known the Bay of Plenty area was this appealing, we would have stayed longer, but instead we will plan a return trip, another month down under while Canada is in the deep freeze.