, image = View_to_Mayor.jpg , caption1 = Looking towards Mayor Island down Domain Rd from the Papamoa Hills , city1 =

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

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Tauranga City Council Tauranga City Council is the local government authority for Tauranga City in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the 158,000 people of Tauranga. The last Mayor of Tauranga was Tenby Powell, who resigned in Novembe ...

, established = , coordinates = , arearef = , area = 2392 , population = , popdate = , popref = , trainstations = , ferryterminals = , airports = , hospitals = , north = (

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

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Maketu Maketu is a small town on the Bay of Plenty Coast in New Zealand. Maketu is located in the Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Maketu has an estuary from which the Kaituna River used to flow. It is also adjacent to Newdicks Beach located on t ...

, south =

Otawa Otawa is a rural area in the Western Bay of Plenty District and Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. The Otawa Scenic Reserve has several walking tracks varying between 30 minutes and four hours return. The tracks are describe ...

Te Puke Te Puke is a town located 18 kilometres southeast of Tauranga in the Western Bay of Plenty of New Zealand. It is particularly well-known for the cultivation of Kiwifruit. Te Puke is close to Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Papamoa, and Maketu, whi ...

, southwest = Kaitemako , west =

Kairua Kairua is a rural area of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. runs along its northern side, and crosses it at the northeast. Baypark Stadium is in the northwest of the area. The East Coast Main Trunk railway ru ...

, northwest =

Arataki Arataki is a neighbourhood of Mount Maunganui Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. Bayfair Shopping Centre is located in Arataki. Demographics Arataki covers and had an estimated population of as of with a ...

, map = , caption2 = Papamoa or Papamoa Beach is a suburb of

, located about 11 kilometres from the city centre. It is the largest residential suburb in Tauranga. It is bordered to the west by

and

Mount Maunganui Mount Maunganui (, ) is a major residential, commercial and industrial suburb of the Tauranga metropolitan area, located on a peninsula to the north-east of Tauranga's city centre. It was an independent town from Tauranga until the completio ...

(east of Sunrise Avenue and Hibiscus Avenue), the east by the Kaituna River (separating it from the Western Bay of Plenty District) and to the south by State Highway 2.

History and culture

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

settlement of Papamoa dates back to approximately

1400 Year 1400 (Roman numerals, MCD) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The year 1400 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. Events January–December * Henry ...

CE with a significant pā complex overlooking the fertile plains and abundant coastal fisheries. For the next 300 years the people prospered, harvesting their crops and fisheries, occupying and abandoning sites in accordance with the

kūmara The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoot ...

cycle and soil fertility. Papamoa has of white sandy beach stretching from the boundary with

in the west to the

Kaituna River The Kaituna River is in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the outflow from Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti, and flows northwards for , emptying into the Bay of Plenty near Te Puke. It was the subject of a claim concer ...

in the east. Widespread

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...

settlement of the area did not start until the early 1960s and prior to this Papamoa had been largely a rural area. Once a small and tight knit community, many of Papamoa Beach's sweeping paddocks have been swallowed up by urban development. In subsequent decades, Papamoa is currently one of the fastest growing suburbs of Tauranga, with many different subdivisions developing concurrently on different blocks of land on the fringes of the suburb. It is popular for fishing, surfing, and as a holiday retreat. The local Mangatawa or Tamapahore Marae and its Tamapahore meeting house is a meeting place for the

Ngāi Te Rangi Ngāi Te Rangi or Ngāiterangi is a Māori people, Māori iwi, based in Tauranga, New Zealand. Its rohe (tribal area) extends to Mayor Island / Tuhua and Waihi Beach, Bowentown in the north, to the Kaimai Range in the west, south of Te Puke and to ...

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or " clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally op ...

of Ngā Pōtiki.

Nudity

Papamoa Beach is a clothing-optional beach by custom. New Zealand has no official nude beaches, as public nudity is legal on any beach where it is "known to occur". Sexual activity in public places ''is'' illegal, however, and Papamoa Beach has been the site of a continuing series of complaints about lewd behaviour. Some complainants take care to distinguish between these activities and non-sexual naturism; others do not. In 2012, Papamoa Beach was the location for a skinny dipping world record attempt. On 2 December 2012, 299 people got naked in the water. Despite a cold day, many people stripped naked attempting to beat Christchurch's Summer Beach Dip. The record failed as Guinness World Records required all swimmers to be in the water at the same time for a group photo.

Name issues

The suburban area of "Papamoa" as it is commonly referred to today is actually situated at "Papamoa Beach." Strictly geographically speaking, "Papamoa" is actually located closer inland towards the Papamoa Hills, in an area covered by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council. Papamoa (situated at Papamoa Beach) can be split into two areas: Papamoa East and Papamoa West. Legally speaking, Domain Road separates Papamoa West from Papamoa East, although to many locals Papamoa East starts on the Eastern side of Parton Road. Papamoa East (of Parton Road) in the 1970s and 1980s used to be seen as more of an alternative place to live, a bit like the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the ...

Demographics

Papamoa covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Papamoa had a population of 25,272 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 5,928 people (30.6%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 9,096 people (56.2%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 9,006 households, comprising 12,300 males and 12,972 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.95 males per female, with 5,805 people (23.0%) aged under 15 years, 3,963 (15.7%) aged 15 to 29, 11,232 (44.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 4,275 (16.9%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 85.3% European/

, 17.2%

, 2.8% Pacific peoples, 6.4%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 2.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 22.7, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 56.6% had no religion, 30.6% were Christian, 0.8% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.8% were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 0.3% were Muslim, 0.4% were

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and 3.5% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 3,579 (18.4%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 3,405 (17.5%) people had no formal qualifications. 3,408 people (17.5%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 9,612 (49.4%) people were employed full-time, 2,892 (14.9%) were part-time, and 645 (3.3%) were unemployed.

Economy

Papamoa Beach has a large shopping area located to the west of Domain Road,. There is a small section of industrial activity located to the east of Parton Road.

Retail

Papamoa Plaza Papamoa Plaza, formerly ''Palm Beach Plaza'' is a shopping complex in Papamoa, Tauranga, New Zealand opened in 1997. It has an immediate catchment of 17,000 people; this rises to over 200,000 people in the summer holidays. There are 37 stores in ...

, a shopping centre covering 14,120 m², opened in 1997. It has 650 carparks and 39 shops, including

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

and

The Warehouse The Warehouse Group (TWG) was founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, and is the largest retail group operating in New Zealand. It is a corporate group that consists of The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Torpedo7, Noel Leeming, 1-day and TheMar ...

. Fashion Island, another shopping centre covering 3,315 m², opened in 2006. It has 20 stores.

Education

Papamoa College is a co-educational state secondary school for Year 7 to 13 students, established in 2011, with a roll of . Papamoa has three co-educational state primary schools for Year 1 to 6 students: Papamoa Primary School, with a roll of ; Golden Sands School, established in 2011, with a roll of ; and Te Okuroa Drive School, opening in 2021. Tahatai Coast School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students established in 1996, with a roll of . Te Akau ki Papamoa Primary School is a co-educational state primary school established in 2000, with a roll of . The school originally took Year 1 to 8, but removed Year 7 and 8 when Papamoa College opened. Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kura Kokiri is a co-educational Māori language immersion state primary school, with a roll of . Suzanne Aubert Catholic School is a state integrated Catholic primary school which is due to open at the beginning of 2021.

Transport

Public transport in Papamoa Beach solely consists of bus services. The suburb is served by three 'Bay Hopper' routes; Route 30 (

- Papamoa ), Route 33 (

- Papamoa via the Harbour Bridge), and Route 36 (

- Papamoa via

Maungatapu Bridge The Maungatapu Bridge is a beam bridge which crosses the Tauranga Harbour and connects the Matapihi and Maungatapu peninsulas in New Zealand. The bridge opened in 1959 and is 316 metres long and 10 metres wide. The bridge carries two lanes of tr ...

Gallery

Image:Papamoa_Beach1.jpg, Mt Maunganui from Papamoa Beach Image:Papamoa_Beach2.jpg, Papamoa Beach from the Papamoa Domain Image:Domain_Road1.jpg, The Papamoa Hills from Domain Rd Image:View_to_Mount.jpg, Looking towards Mt Maunganui from the Papamoa Hills Image:View_from_Papamoa_Hills.jpg, Looking down at Papamoa from the top of the Papamoa Hills Image:View_to_Motiti.jpg, Looking towards Parton Rd and Motiti Island from the Papamoa Hills

References

{{Tauranga Suburbs of Tauranga Nude beaches Naturism in New Zealand