regional council, eastern North Island, New Zealand. It encompasses the narrow 100-mile (160-km) stretch of lowlands fronting the Bay of Plenty and extends from Matakana Island eastward to Cape Runaway. The Rangitaiki, Whakatane, and Motu rivers drain northward into the bay. The regional council also extends inland (south) from the bay roughly 40 miles (64 km) to include much of the Volcanic Plateau that is the heart of North Island's thermal belt. The city of Rotorua, about 30 miles (48 km) inland on the Volcanic Plateau, is noted for the geysers, fumaroles, boiling mud, and warm mineral bathing pools in its vicinity. Other principal settlements within the Bay of Plenty regional council include Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, Maketu, Matata, Whakatane, and Te Puke. Dairy and sheep farming predominate. Area 4,740 square miles (12,277 square km). Pop. (2006) 264,180.