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Whananaki / Whangaruru Harbour
Well off the beaten track, the farmland and bush, estuary and beach of the Whananaki/Whangaruru district, is a combination of rural and coastal life where nature still plays a leading role.
Mimiwhangata Coastal Park
Mimiwhangata Coastal Park is a Department of Conservation Reserve with a wonderfully varied landscape and shoreline, fringed for a 1000 metres seaward by a specially designated marine park. The 850 hectare property is run as a working farm, with stock excluded from the sensitive sand dunes, wetlands and bush areas. It includes a number of small craggy islands. The park is a permanent home to a number of threatened bird species, including one of the worlds rarest water fowl the Brown Teal or Pateke, and is regularly visited by others. There are fishing and shellfish gathering restrictions in the marine park, the last few kilometres of access are a narrow winding gravel road that is not suitable for caravans or larger camper vans. Campsites are available in secluded Waikahoa Bay with basic water and toilet facilities but you have to walk the last few hundred metres.
Oakura Bay
Oakura Bay
Oakura is the nearest Whangaruru comes to having a commercial centre, with several motels, bed and breakfasts, and camping grounds clustered around its popular one kilometre sandy beach. There is also a fishing store, general store, fuel pumps and boat launching ramp. Line fishing and diving charters available.
Bland Bay
Bland Bay, on the northern shores of the Whangaruru Harbour, has two beaches of very different character. A sheltered bay on the harbour side, with an exposed Pacific Ocean surf beach only 400 metres away across a flat isthmus. A large campground bridges this gap between the two beaches.
