Mount hotspots - beach, cafes and trails -boom in hot weather

Tracks on Mauao were pumping with people working off their Christmas Day dinners. Photo/George Novak

The beach, the cafes and Mauao tracks were packed yesterday.

Set up at the campground at the foot of Mauao, Margaret and Trevor Coulter, have been coming to Mount Maunganui every summer since 1958.

"It's definitely gotten busier, used to be very quiet here," Mr Coulter said.

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Thousands of people tramped across the boardwalk in front of their campervan to access the tracks on Mauao.

"It starts getting busy at about 5am and doesn't slow down all day. It's just chocka up there."

It made for good people watching, he said, seeing the slim and not-so-slim streaming past for some exercise.

Cyclists riding in to Mount Maunganui to avoid traffic and finding a parking spot. Photo/George Novak

"It's been good since they built the boardwalk, years ago the walkers would have to walk straight through the campground."

Mount locals Deb Griffiths and Ian Gleghorn don't bother driving into downtown any more.

"The other day we tried and had to do 5 laps of the Mount before finding a park," Ms Griffiths said.

They prefer to bike in, for exercise and to avoid the awful traffic and hassle of finding a parking spot.

They had just done a lap of the base track and said it was "very full".

There was no hard feelings to the tourists who poured in taking up space - "they are great for cafes and shops".