A gentle walk on a light gravel surface. After a leisurely walk around the Mt call in at one of the many cafes to top up the energy with a coffee and cake. Or on a cool day, warm up with a swim in the hot pools.
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This walk should take you 40 minutes at a slow walk with a couple of stops along the way. As you can see in the first photo the Mt is (231m) high and (3.5ks) around the base. With four different walking tracks covering the Mt from top to bottom. Walk up Pilot Bay road call into the toilets on the right hand side as you pass the caravan park. By now the repairs to the subsiding road will be completed, walk up to the old wharf, yes you can fish off this wharf. Keep to the left, the tracks running off to the right will take you up to the top of Mt Maunganui, a very good workout. 3 minutes into the walk is the first gate. All the gates are push to open and self closing, no latches to release.
Don’t forget to look back at the start of the walk; you can see the Mt twin towers. And the fishing boats anchored in the bay at the right time of day it would make an interesting photo. This is also a very popular spot for fishing off the rocks.
Around the first point you will walk into the main entrance of Tauranga Harbour. This beach is not a safe beach to swim in when the tides are on the move, you could be swept in or out of the harbour. Stay in Pilot Bay. Take a walk down to the beach and sit for a while; you might see a container ship cruise by. You will be amazed how massive the ships can be when you are sitting on the beach and looking up at all that steel. You are so close you can reach out and touch the hull and listen to the powerful motors pushing 100s of tonne through the water, well worth the wait. To save time, go out to the ocean side of the Mt have a coffee and wait till you see a ship making its way to the entrance then run around to the other side, be quick, they are faster than you think. Then there are the pleasure craft speeding out to sea, all trying to catch fresh fish for dinner tonight.
The northern side of the Mt is the side I enjoy the most. Sitting under the tress in a cool sea breeze, watching and listening to the ocean waves breaking over the rocks at your feet. Very soothing.
The eastern side is also filled with eye-catching views from rocky inlets to sandy beaches.
The boardwalk along the water front is easy to find. Open the gate and walk down either the steps or the ramp, past the caravan park and the surf club and out to the front of the cafes. The boardwalk extends for another 300m along the beach front. There are public toilets and changing rooms at the surf club and another public toilet and changing room 200m past the cafes on the beach front. Carry on walking along Marine Parade if you like and enjoy looking at the million dollar homes that line the road.
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