Mount Maunganui is a town in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, located on a peninsula to the north of the neighbouring city Tauranga, which Mount Maunganui fought fiercely during the 1950s to retain independence from, then failed with the completion of the harbour bridge in 1988. It is also the name of the extinct volcanic cone which rises above the town (which is now officially known by its Māori name Mauao[1]). According to Maori legend, this hill was a pononga [slave] to a mountain called Otanewainuku.[2] It is colloquially known in New Zealand simply as The Mount. Maunganui means "big hill", so the name is linguistically redundant. The town itself is located on top of a sand bar that connects Mauao to the mainland, a geographical formation known as a tombolo. Because of this formation, the residents of Mount Maunganui are lucky enough to have both a harbour beach (Pilot Bay) and an ocean beach with great surf, within a short distance (At the base of Mauao, the distance between the harbour and ocean side is a couple of blocks).