More couples choosing to marry on Mount Maunganui's Mauao summit

Happy Puku's Stephen Wilson wants more people to walk up and around Mauao. Photo / Caroline Fleming

New figures reveal how many people are saying 'I do' atop Mauao.

Since December, six couples have been married on the Mount Maunganui mountain. The figures are part of a Mauao annual report presented at Tauranga City Council yesterday.Wedding photographer Stacey Clarkson said it was quite common for couples to get their photos taken on Mauao. It was high on her list of requests.

However, Clarkson said she had not heard of too many couples braving the hike for their nuptials and it surprised her that people were.

The report, prepared by Ngā Poutiriao ō Mauao, also detailed visitor numbers, a pest eradication programme and touched on the base track remediation.

The report also showed that despite Mauaos' popularity, fewer people were reaching the summit.

In the 2018/2019 year, 654,779 visitors hiked to the summit of Mauao. In 2017/2018 there were more than 800,000.

Mauao's base track remained busy, with 483,954 visits this year.

For Stephen Wilson, climbing the summit almost every day for the past 10 years helped create a "place of connection" for him.

Wilson, from Happy Puku, wanted more people to walk up and around Mauao as it was the "best place for exercise" and "wellbeing" in the city.

He said he would like to set up a healthy food truck at the bottom to give out free food for people who climbed up and around.

So far this year, the mountain has seen 14,000 plants planted in the past year, which Mauao trustee and frequent walker of the track Buddy Mikaere said was to create a "cloak over Mauao".

However, Mikaere's biggest concern for Mauao's future was the possible infection of myrtle rust to the pohutukawa trees, as well as overpopulation of the tracks.

Mauao Trustee and frequent walker of the track Buddy Mikaere said it would be something to consider restricting the number of people going up Mauao. Photo / File

He said the next thing to consider was restricting the numbers of people going up the popular walking track to avoid "queues".

While many people were visiting Mauao, the animal pest control programme had seen an almost complete eradication of rabbits on the mountain. Rabbit numbers were the lowest since spiking to more than 800 in 2015. Now, it's under 100.

Bay pest controller Bridget Palmer said this was highly important for the wellbeing of the summit.

Palmer said getting rid of rabbits would bring the balance back into the natural environment and increase survival and diversity of native species and plants.