The town of Whangamatā is 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. In holiday times the population swells considerably: New Year's celebrations fill the town to over 25,000 though this falls soon after New Year's Day. A number of off-shore islands can be seen from the beach. Hauturu or Clark Island is accessible by wading at low tide and is popular in summer months for rock-pool fossickers and kayakers. Whenuakura, sometimes known as Donut Island, sits about a kilometre east of the southern part of Whangamatā beach (Otahu Beach). Tuatara roamed on Whenuakura until fairly recently. Whenuakura Island has a large collapsed blow hole which has formed a small beach inside the island – hence the alternative name. The town has two ocean beaches, both of which are extremely safe for swimming and surfing. There is a safe boating harbour at the North end of the town and another estuary at the South end. 15 minutes drive south of Whangamatā is the quietly popular beach Whiritoa. Other beaches just north of Whangamatā are Onemana and Opoutere. Place name The Māori name 'Whangamatā' comes from the words 'whanga', which means bay, and 'matā', which means a hard stone, in reference to the obsidian which washes up on the beach. Areas along the coast such as Onemana were locations where matā (chert) and matā tūhua (obsidian) were found and processed into stone tools. Demographics Whangamatā covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Whangamatā had a population of 4,074 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 558 people (15.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 513 people (14.4%) since the 2006 census. There were 1,821 households, comprising 2,019 males and 2,058 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.98 males per female. The median age was 57.8 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 561 people (13.8%) aged under 15 years, 396 (9.7%) aged 15 to 29, 1,593 (39.1%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,524 (37.4%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 91.4% European/Pākehā, 15.8% Māori, 1.9% Pacific peoples, 1.8% Asian, and 1.2% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 13.6, compared