Waihau Bay, Bay of Plenty Map

About Waihau Bay, Bay of Plenty

Waihau Bay is a locality in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. It sits at an elevation of around 40 m above sea level. It lies approximately 90 km east-northeast of Whakatane, the regional capital. Waihau Bay is located at 37.6182°S, 177.9088°E. It observes New Zealand Time (NZST/NZDT).

Waihau Bay breathes with the steady, salt-laced air that drifts inland from the ocean's edge, a gentle caress over the rolling hills that form its immediate embrace. It lies 115.4 km north of Gisborne (from Gisborne: bearing 356°T), and is situated 34.5 km west of Hicks Bay. The landscape here is a study in soft contours, where emerald pastures, vibrant with the recent rains, tumble down towards the sheltered waters. Scattered groves of native bush punctuate the farmland, their dense foliage a darker green against the sky, hinting at the wilder places that lie further inland. The Raukokore River, a silver thread, snakes its way through the wider valley, its murmur a constant, soothing undertone to the rustle of leaves and the distant bleating of sheep. Even the light seems to possess a unique quality, softening at dusk to a pale gold that washes over the land, imbuing the scene with a quiet, enduring beauty.

This is a place where the rhythms of the sea and the land are deeply interwoven into the fabric of daily life. For generations, the bounty of Waihau Bay has sustained its people, with fishing forming a cornerstone of the local economy, the boats bobbing like colourful jewels in the harbour. Beyond the coastal pursuits, the fertile land supports a thriving agricultural community, the rich soil yielding its produce with a generous spirit. History whispers from the land, a legacy of those who have worked and lived here, their stories carried on the breeze that sweeps from the Raukumara Range. It's a locale that feels both grounded in its traditions and open to the future, a place where the vastness of the ocean meets the quiet resilience of the earth.

About This Waihau Bay Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Waihau Bay, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand at coordinates -37.61821, 177.90878. Use the Map and Satellite buttons to switch views, the plus and minus buttons to zoom, and Fullscreen to fill the screen.

Search Maps opens a second, independent map with four things the embedded map cannot do. It searches OpenStreetMap for any New Zealand town, suburb or landmark by name. It offers LINZ topographic maps as a base layer — the official Topo250 and Topo50 sheets, switching scale automatically as you zoom, and the standard reference for tramping, hunting and back-country travel. It offers LINZ aerial imagery down to 5cm resolution in urban areas. And it can take a single GPS fix from your device and report your position as both an NZTM2000 grid reference and plain latitude and longitude — the grid reference being what New Zealand search and rescue services work from. Map tiles require mobile coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map itself cannot load.

My Location & Navigate starts the vector-tile navigator: live turn-by-turn driving directions from your current position to any destination, with spoken guidance, lane hints and automatic re-routing.

Live weather conditions with current observations and a 7-day forecast are powered by Open-Meteo. Real-time New Zealand and world news feeds keep the page current, while an editorial description provides background on Waihau Bay.

Waihau Bay sits within the Bay of Plenty Region. Location data is drawn from the GeoNames geographical database and verified by coordinates, ensuring the correct Waihau Bay is identified even where the name is shared across multiple New Zealand localities.