The town of Whangamata is sited on the southeast coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 30 kilometres north of Waihi, to the north of the western extremity of the Bay of Plenty. The second largest town on the peninsula (after Thames), it has a population of 5000. Location of Coromandel Peninsula A true-colour image showing Auckland city (left), the Hauraki Gulf (centre) and the Coromandel Peninsula (right). ... North Island The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. ... Waihi is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. ... The Bay of Plenty, often abbreviated to BoP, is a region of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name. ... Thames is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealands North Island. ...

The town has two ocean beaches, both of which are extremely safe for swimming and surfing. There is a very safe boating harbour at the North end of the town and another estuary at the South end. Both provide extremely safe swimming for young children. 15 minutes drive south of Whangamata is the quietly popular beach Whiritoa. Whiritoa is a small beach community on the Coromandel Peninsula between Whangamata and Waihi Beach. ...

There is a number of clubs, restaurants and hotels, which are able to provide meals, refreshments and entertainment for visitors.

Shibboleth: People aware of other place names of Maori origin might expect Whangamata to be pronounced in a similar way to such names as Waitemata and Matamata, where more stress is placed on the penultimate syllable than the final one, leaving the last 'a' as a schwa. These place names rhyme, roughly, with the English word matter. Whangamata goes against this rule, and the stress is placed firmly on the final 'a'. The ending thus rhymes (roughly) with the English word guitar. Look up Shibboleth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary For the Internet2 research project, see Shibboleth (Internet2). ... Te Puni, Māori Chief Māori is the name of the indigenous people of New Zealand, and their language. ... Auckland Harbour Bridge crossing the Waitemata Harbour Waitemata Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. ... Matamata is a rural Waikato town in New Zealand with a total population of around 12,000 (6,000 in rural areas, 6,000 in the township). ...

The name of Whangamata comes from the mata stones which washed up on the beach. Whanga = bay, mata = a hard stone.