Get Involved in the Vibrant Omokoroa Community
Omokoroa
Omokoroa is a sought-after area for coastal living in the Western Bay.
Set on a long peninsula in the Tauranga Harbour, Omokoroa has transformed over the years from the sleepy holiday spot to a thriving lifestyle area with a mix of residential, industrial, small landholdings and some retail.
Omokoroa is now a vibrant, caring, connected community where people know their neighbours and feel connected with one another and the fantastic surrounding local environment.
What's there?
Amenities include the well respected Omokoroa Point School, three neighbourhood shopping areas, one with a supermarket, a medical complex, public library, cafes and restaurants. Residents fish or launch from the jetty, kayak, swim safely or enjoy the sporting facilities of a golf club, bowling club, boat club, tennis club and field sports from the Western Avenue playing fields.
A major town centre is under construction.
The Omokoroa to Tauranga Cycle Trail is part of the New Zealand Cycle Trail network and provides a safe and recreational link between the peninsular and Tauranga City. The 17km project provides an alternative transport choice to the busy State Highway 2 corridor that connects the area to Tauranga City.
Omokoroa has an abundance of walkways and cycleways. The Omokoroa Bird Walk circles the peninsula with 10 informative bird boards showing the birds that can be seen on or around the peninsula.
Everything from A to Z
For a small community, Omokoroa is extremely well serviced. On the peninsula you will find:
Accounting services, aged care facilities, arborists, auto electricians, audio visual specialists
Beauticians, bed & breakfast, bobcats, bricklayers, builders,
Cafes, campgrounds, carriers, carpet cleaners, chemist, churches, computer support, convenience stores, copy centre, Council service centre,
Dairies, decorators, dentists, denture repairs, doctors, dressmakers, drop-in centre,
Electorate clinics, electricians,
Ferry services, firewood suppliers, freedom camping, fresh fruit stalls,
Gardeners, gift shops, gas fitters, gated communities, green waste disposal,
Hairdressers, handymen, hire centre, hot pools, house cleaners,
Icecream sellers, Internet access,
Jam and chutney stalls, jazz sessions,
Kindergartens, kitchen makers,
Library, lawn care, lawyers, liquor store, lotto,
Massage therapists, midwives, motor mechanics,
Nail technicians, neighbourhood support groups,
Odd jobbers, opticians, osteopath,
Painters, paper hangers, picture framers, pest controllers, pet care, physiotherapists, plasterers, plumbers, podiatrist, post shop, pre-schools, printers,
Quilting supplies, Qi Gong,
Real estate agents, restaurants, retirement village,
Supermarket, second-hand shop, storage facility,
Tailors, takeaways, tilers, tyre supply & repair, Tainui tree (the largest in NZ)
Utilities – broadband, power, sewage, telephone, water,
Vacant lots, vacation accommodation, vaccinations, volunteer fire brigade,
Wall washers, WiFi, window cleaners, WoF agents, wheel balance and alignment,
X-rays (for teeth), Xeronema,
Yacht moorings, yoga
Zipper replacers.
A Short History of the Name
'Omokoroa' originally applied to a much larger area as can be seen on some maps where 'Omokoroa' is shown at the location of the old railway station. (Still visible from Plummers Point Road.) Omokoroa No 1 school is not 'in' Omokoroa now. (See map image below.)
What we call 'Omokoroa' today was labelled "Omokoroa Beach" on early maps.
Omokoroa was named when Maori were settled at Wai Huri Pa at the headland of Omokoroa before the great fire when they shifted across to Ongarahu Pa (Rising out of the ashes) at the end of Plummers Point. [A must visit, to see some of the best-preserved defensive ditches in the country.]
As with many names in NZ, some settlers applied their own interpretations, finding meaning for themselves in the places they settled. For example, Omokoroa was named after the small white 'huhu' grub or a local chief 'Mokoroa' so the first European settler on the peninsula, Tice Gellibrand, named his farm O (the place of) Mokoroa.
More recently, because the peninsula protruding into the harbour resembles a long lizard, O (the place of) moko (lizard) roa (long), has gained traction and one will find lizard motifs decorating many homes in Omokoroa as tribute to this contemporary interpretation. As time moves on there are likely to be additional interpretations as more people settle in these places.