http://www.kiwitourism.com/cityoftauranga/

Tauranga is the bustling, confident port city where pleasure craft jostle in the marinas and charter vessels operate fishing, scuba diving and dolphin-watching trips. There is no shortage of shopping and dining in Tauranga either.

This, after all, is the centre of the Bay of Plenty, a region experiencing steady population growth.

The Bay of Plenty is the North-east coast versus north-west coast of the island, and you are now heading into wine country.

http://www.tourism.net.nz/wineries-new-zealand.html

Hawke’s Bay, Hastings. Napier, Gisborne are all charming towns thriving thanks to wine.

The Gisborne Wine Region, located on the country’s most easterly tip and closest to the international dateline, boasts the world’s most easterly vineyards, and the first vines to see the sun each day.

The region receives high sunshine hours on coastal plains that are sheltered from the west by a range of mountains. Soils include alluvial loams over sandy or volcanic subsoils of moderate fertility. Vineyards are predominantly sited on flats, a dramatic contrast with the hilly, rugged terrain around Rotorua and Tarawara.

I didn’t get much time here, not for want of trying, but it was on to Wellington. Just suffice it to say that for all things wine and old world charm, these towns are justly on the map.