Local knowledge wins every time. My next clue was going to be this recent picture:
It was taken from a DC-3 which had been chartered by a group, to fly them from Tauranga to Whitianga (all of 56 nm), to play golf. What a stylish way to go golfing!
I was also going to add "Captain Cook transited here". He put in here in November 1769 to observe a Transit of Mercury, hence the name Mercury Bay. While he was here, he became the first European to visit a Maori pa.
kaikohe has control.