Motueka Island (Pigeon Island)

Hahei is a small settlement in Mercury Bay on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand. It is near Cathedral Cove, between the settlements of Cooks Beach and Hot Water Beach. It is approximately 11 km south east of Whitianga and 8 km north of Hot Water Beach. The driving route to Whitianga from Hahei is circuitous and takes approximately 30 minutes. An alternative route is by road to Ferry Landing, which takes 15 minutes, and then a short passenger ferry trip to Whitianga. A ferry service to Whitianga has served the eastern Mercury Bay area since 1895.A prominent feature of the beach is Mahurangi Island (Goat Island), which lies on the edge of the Te Whanganui-A-Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve.

Te Whanganui-A-Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve is in the southern part of Mercury Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand covering an area of 840 hectares (2,100 acres). On the coast of the mainland, it stretches from Cook Bluff in the north-west to the northern end of Hahei Beach in the south-east. Its offshore extremes run from Motukorure Island through Waikaranga Island to Okorotere Island and the northern end of Mahurangi Island (Goat Island). Part of the marine reserve lies off the Cathedral Cove Recreation Reserve, which runs from the northern end of Hahei Beach in the south-east to beyond Cathedral Cove in the north-west. With attractions such as a natural rock archway and neighbouring beaches at Cathedral Cove, the area is very popular with tourists, and receives around 150,000 visitors per year.

Mahurangi Island, also known as Goat Island, is located 1.1 kilometres (0.68 mi) to the north-east of Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. The uninhabited island is 6 hectares in size.Mahurangi Island forms one corner of the Te Whanganui-A-Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve.Nearby are many smaller islands including Okorotere and Te Tio Islands.

Mercury Bay is a large V-shaped bay on the eastern coast of the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island of New Zealand. It was named by the English navigator Captain James Cook during his exploratory expeditions. It was first named Te-Whanganui-a-Hei, the great bay of Hei, by the Māori. On 9 November 1769 Cook landed on the shores of the bay to observe a Transit of Mercury. In 1919 an area of land around Shakespeare Cliff was set aside, and a small memorial was constructed, based on the erroneous notion that it was the location of Cook's observations. But the actual site of Cook's landing and observation was the eastern end of Cook's Beach, near the Purangi estuary. A smaller memorial plinth was established there also. The brig Trial and the schooner Brothers were attacked by Māori on 20 August 1815 in Mercury Bay, when several sailors were killed. The bay was the resting place of HMS Buffalo, a ship that transported passengers and prisoners to Australia that was wrecked in a storm in 1840. The mouth of Mercury Bay is ten kilometres across, and its coastline extends some 20 km. On the shore of the bay is the resort town of Whitianga, and a natural harbour is formed by an arm of the bay which extends inland a further six kilometres southward. Several small islets are located at the southern and northern extremities of the bay, and the Mercury Islands are 10 km to the north. The Whanganui A Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve is in the southern part of the bay. Named locations along Mercury Bay include Buffalo Beach, Wharekaho, Ferry Landing, Shakespeare Cliff, Lonely Bay, Flaxmill Bay, Cooks Beach, Purangi Estuary, Cathedral Cove and Hahei. Mercury Bay is a good location for game fishing, with the Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club being one of the largest in New Zealand. The bay is also widely known for its yachting. The Mercury Bay Boating Club in Whitianga was the challenging club in New Zealand's first challenge for the America's Cup, in 1987. There was an arched rock in Mercury Bay which collapsed. It was illustrated in the 1700s aboard James Cook's Endeavour. It was depicted with a pā on top of the rock.

Cooks Beach (Pukaki) is a town on a three-kilometre white-sand beach on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. To its north is Cooks Bay, and beyond that is Mercury Bay. To the east is the locality of Hahei and the tourist attraction of Cathedral Cove. Roads to the south connect to SH 25. On the northwest, Shakespeare Cliff is a scenic reserve with a lookout point.

Hot Water Beach is a beach on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand, just south of Mercury Bay. It is approximately 12 kilometres south east of Whitianga, and approximately 175 kilometres from Auckland by car. Its name comes from underground hot springs that filter up through the sand between the high and low water tidal reaches. The beach is a popular destination both for locals and tourists visiting New Zealand. Annual visitor numbers have been estimated at 700,000, making it one of the most popular geothermal attractions in the Waikato region.

The Purangi River is a river of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It flows north to reach Mercury Bay to the east of Whitianga.

HMS Buffalo was a storeship of the Royal Navy, originally built and launched at Sulkea, opposite Calcutta, in 1813 as the merchant vessel Hindostan. The Admiralty purchased her that year after she arrived in Britain. She later transported convicts and immigrants to Australia, before being wrecked in 1840.

Whenuakite is a locality on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. State Highway 25 runs through it. Whitianga is north west, Coroglen 8 km west, Cooks Beach and Hahei north, Hot Water Beach north east, and Tairua 18 km to the south east. The Whenuakite River flows from coastal hills in the east through the area to drain in the Whitianga Harbour.

Castle Island is a small uninhabited island 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) off the coast of Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand.

Whitianga is a town on the Coromandel Peninsula, in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is located on Mercury Bay, on the northeastern coast of the peninsula. The town has a permanent population of 6,440 as of June 2023, making it the second-largest town on the Coromandel Peninsula behind Thames.

The Whenuakite River is one of the longer rivers on the Coromandel Peninsula, in the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows initially north from its sources close to the peninsula's southeast coast north of Tairua, before turning west to reach the southernmost point of the Whitianga Harbour.