Whangamata
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. 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. 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.
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