Most striking new feature at Bowentown is the recently constructed Cave Point Lookout, a large elevated parking area near the trig station, which offers scenic views second to none in New Zealand.

Where narrow overgrown tracks were the only means of reaching high vantage spots or moving beach to beach, wide bulldozed walks, very wisely closed, to traffic, have been provided for ramblers. They give access to some magnificent views embracing the harbour entrance with its picturesque deeps and shoals, the estuary and beautiful coastline opposite, native bush now regenerating well, and networks of gnarled pohutukawa trunks and boughs, a mass of crimson beauty in bloom.

Which ever way the wind blows there is a sheltered beach for swimmers, none too far distant from the others. Sea-etched rocks with plenty of handholds and stretches of clean sand, with tracks up from the beaches at intervals, make a trip around the shore line possible with little danger of being trapped by an incoming tide. Auckland visitors, plucking mussels from the rocks at the week-end unreservedly lubbed [sic] the area ‘fabulous.’

The Katikati Domain Board, under keen chairman Mr Ross Sharp and with an enthusiastic secretary, Mr H. J. Cooper, have brought many of these attractions within reach of the general public. They have not hesitated, individually, to roll up their sleeves and pitch in with voluntary labour to eke out the limited finance available.⁹⁸

This tribute to the attributes of Bowentown went on to describe the advances made at the domain camping ground, where during the peak of the holiday period in 1964 it said there were 42 tents and 20 caravans for a camp population of close to 500 people.⁹⁹

In July 1964 approval was given for the Bowentown Boating Club to build a clubhouse, wharf, boat ramps and parking area on a site near Pio’s Beach.¹⁰⁰ The site of the boating club is on the same side of the peninsula as the Maori reserve, so that boats use the water directly in front of Otawhiwhi.

By 1968 the projected costs of future development of the domain over the next five years had reached $25,000. The board looked to the Tauranga County Council for assistance.¹⁰¹ The council was not keen to take on such a heavy financial burden and wanted the Crown to play a larger part in carrying the financial responsibility. Before Lands and Survey would take any action on this matter, it first wanted to see the board produce an overall plan for the future development of the domain.¹⁰² The board and the council prepared financial plans for the period November 1969 to November 1975 which involved the construction of public toilets, foreshore protection, parking facilities, sewerage disposal and water supply.¹⁰³

In April 1971 the ‘Development Plan for the Preservation and Use of Bowentown Domain: Katikati’ was completed. It was prepared so that ‘orderly development of the Domain and its conservation could take place.’ The plan was a brief document, with one page on the history of the area, including three sentences on the pre-European

⁹⁸ Waihi Gazette, 30 January 1964

⁹⁹ Ibid

¹⁰⁰ Head Office Committee: Reserves Incorporation of Additional Area in Permit Over a Recreational Reserve, 11 July 1964, LS 3/2/40

¹⁰¹ Tauranga County Council, Schedule of Development Works Immediately Required, or Projected, in the Bowentown Peninsula, November 1968, LS 3/2/40

¹⁰² Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director-General of Lands, 28 April 1969, LS 3/2/40 [p 64]

¹⁰³ Director-General of Lands to Minister of Lands, 19 November 1969, LS 3/2/40 [pp 65-66]