Mount Maunganui, Sacred volcanic peak in Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

Mount Maunganui is an extinct volcano that rises from the ocean and forms a peninsula with beaches facing both the harbor and the Pacific Ocean. The peak reaches about 232 meters and offers views across the bay and surrounding coastal areas from the top.

Mauao is a rhyolite lava dome of the Tauranga Volcanic Centre; its youngest deposits date to 2.35 ± 0.06 million years ago. Around 4,000 years ago rising seas left it an island until marine beach deposits built the tombolo that rejoined it to the mainland. Three pā sites stood on and around the hill, and the last was abandoned after the Ngāpuhi raid of 1820.

The name Mauao means 'caught by the morning sun', from the patupaiarehe who abandoned the hill at dawn. Māori consider the mountain tapu, and it is owned by Ngāti Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Pukenga, who manage it jointly with Tauranga City Council since the 2008 land return.

Several walking tracks with different difficulty levels lead to the summit, with a typical ascent taking between 30 and 60 minutes. The paths are well marked and the area is busy during daylight hours, making it a safe place to explore.

The engine of the Ranui launch, wrecked at North West Rock on 28 December 1950 with the loss of 23 lives, stayed wedged between rocks on the seaward edge of the base track for years. The tombolo itself formed about 4,000 years ago, when rising Holocene seas turned the dome into an island before beach deposits rejoined it to the mainland.