Whangarei Activites
Whangarei - love it here

Hire our Nalu Board/Kayak

for a paddle on the river.

$15 per hour
$30 for 3 hours

Cycle and helmet hire

$10 per hour
$30 for a day

Use our BBQ for free

Enjoy a meal in the garden overlooking the marina.

Only a short flat walk along the river to The Town Basin

“The Town Basin” is the inner harbour marina and here you will find shops, cafés and restaurants. Have a meal and watch the ocean-going yachts coming and going from the Pacific.

Town Basin is also the location for the quirky and entertaining Clapham’s Clock Museum, the new Whangarei Victoria Bridge Market, and, hopefully later on, also the Hundertwasser Art Gallery.

Watch the glass blowers at Burning Issues or buy unique world-class crafted jewellery from Steve Haywood. Look into The Batch and see gifts and artwork by local artists displayed in the co-op gallery/café.

On Sundays at 11am you can catch “The Waipapa” (like Marcus Lush did in his latest TV-series), from the Town Basin and sail to historical Limestone Island, now a kiwi reserve, in the middle of Whangarei Harbour.

Whangarei City

Whangarei city offers some beautiful bush walks. You won’t even know you are only minutes from the city. Whangarei Falls is only 50 metres from the parking area. There is a 35 minute loop walk to the bottom of the fall. AH Reed park offers a loop walk, which takes you across the treetop walk, 14 metres above the forest floor to a small stand of giant Kauri trees.

The walk from Town Basin up through Mair Park and along Hatea River takes you through native bush and you would not know you are in the middle of town. Start by the public pool, only 600m from Marina Court Motel. You can combine these 3 walks in a 1.5 hour walk from Town Basin to falls. Maybe take the city Link-bus to the falls and walk down to Town Basin and reward yourself with a nice coffee!

In Whangarei you will find branches of most chain stores in NZ as well as plenty of small shops, cafes and restaurants in the central pedestrian mall.

There is a beautiful new library with computer access, cafe and a view over the fern garden.
We have a 3 screen cinema, 2 theatres, sports facilities, bowling, stadiums and sports fields, kiwi and gecko house, heritage and art museums, parks…

Whangarei Heads

Whangarei Heads offers spectacular beaches, wonderful walks and amazing sceneries. Ocean Beach and Pataua for surfing and swimming. Reotahi and McGregors Bay for snorkeling, Pataua lagoon for little kiddies. Smugglers Cove for the oyster-catcher in you. Kauri Mountain for the seclusion, swimming and off-the-rocks fishing.

If you don't have your own surf gear, hire it in Tutukaka, only 35 km northeast of Whangarei and surf some of the nearby beaches...Sandy Bay or Woolleys Bay.

Whangarei Heads Walks

Do a short walk to Smugglers Cove (15 minutes) or the long way around Busby Head (1.5 hrs). Walk the round trip across Mt. Aubrey (1 hr) or climb Mt. Manaia 1.5-2 hrs return). Or maybe you want a really long walk from Urquharts Bay to Ocean Beach, which will take you about 5-6 hours. Talk to us at the Marina Court reception and we will assist in finding the perfect day-trip for you.

Whangarei Aquatic and Fitness Centre

Whangarei Aquatic and Fitness Centre is just 500m away from Marina Court. It features a wave pool and 2 large hydro slides as well as lap pools and toddler pool with warm water…Not to mention a gigantic spa pool. A fully equipped fitness centre and if you feel you have burned too many calories, you can have a coffee and a cake in the café.

Poor Knights Islands

Talk to us, at the reception, about booking a dive or snorkel trip to the world-renowned Poor Knights Islands. It truly is a fantastic experience to dive or snorkel at the marine reserve, which is said to have been called one of the top 10 dive sites in the world by Jacques Cousteau.