Visit the Centre of the North Island

Have you ever wondered where the geographic centre of the North Island is? To be honest, we never really thought much about this until moving to Taupo. It was only when researching walks in the region that we discovered that you can actually visit the exact spot.

In and of itself, a visit to the centre of the North Island isn’t exactly a must-do, but if you’re in the area, as we were recently to climb Mt Pureora, you might as well stop by. Here’s what you’ll find.

 And for those of you who are curious, here’s what it says on the marker:

How this point was located

A large map of the North Island (approximately one metre in length) was mounted onto rigid cardboard. The cardboard was then bent to represent the curvature of the earth and suspended using a pin and thin nylon until a perfect balance was obtained. This point, the centre of gravity, indicated the North Island’s geographic centre.