Discover the Bay of Plenty with Kiwi Direct Car Rentals...
From boiling mud to boiling surf, the Bay has plenty going for it - and you’ll need your Kiwi Direct rental car to see the best of it.
English explorer James Cook named the Bay of Plenty when he visited on his 1769-70 voyage, and it’s lived up to its name.
From Rotorua with its rich Maori culture and thermal wonderlands in the west to Tauranga on the Pacific coast, from Waihi Beach in the north to Whakatane in the south, the region is sumptuous.
If you want “unique” then start with Rotorua and the famous Te Whakarewarewa thermal reserve, its living Maori village, boiling water pools, the Pohutu geyser, boiling mud and the famous arts and crafts institute.
And if you want more heat, there are also thermal fields like Waiotapu, Waimangu, and Hell’s Gate.
For adventure of a different sort, try the luge, try zorbing, take the gondola to the top of Mt Ngongotaha, visit the Agrodome, the Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park, or get up to the tree tops with a Canopy Tour.
You’ll need your Kiwi Direct rental car to visit some of the 17 beautiful lakes in the district, including the Buried Village that was a victim of the 1886 Mt Tarawera eruption that destroyed the famed Pink and White Terraces on the adjacent lake.
For a change of pace, drive east on the beautiful highway to Tauranga, with its cafes, museums, galleries and heritage sites, but especially visit Mt Maunganui and its famous surf beach.
“The Mount” or Mauao to give it it’s correct name, can be seen from up and down the Bay of Plenty coast, and if you climb The Mount, the views are awesome. Back at the beach, you can relax in a bar or café or wander the shops in the town, or you can drive south through Te Puke - the kiwifruit capital of the world - to Whakatane and the 11 kilometres of Ohope Beach.
For something really different, take a boat from Whakatane, or a helicopter from Whakatane, Tauranga or Rotorua, to White Island, an active marine volcano that has been smoking almost continuously for at least the last 250 years.
The Bay has plenty, and that includes Katikati, dubbed the mural town for obvious reasons, Athenree, Bowentown, the Kaimai Mamaku forest park with its walks and trails, and much more.
And that’s just scratching the surface…
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