Motuoapa
Rural settlement
Motuoapa and peninsula from Tūrangi towards north
Coordinates: 38°56′02″S 175°52′23″E / 38.934°S 175.873°E / -38.934; 175.873
Country	New Zealand
Region	Waikato region
District	Taupō District
Ward	Turangi-Tongariro Ward
Community	Turangi-Tongariro Community
Electorates	Taupō Waiariki (Māori)
Government
• Territorial Authority	Taupō District Council
• Regional council	Waikato Regional Council
Area [1]
• Total	3.34 km2 (1.29 sq mi)
Population  (June 2024)[2]
• Total	460
• Density	140/km2 (360/sq mi)

Motuoapa is a rural settlement northeast of Tūrangi, on the southeast side of New Zealand's Lake Taupō.^[3] State Highway 1 runs through it. Motuoapa Peninsula, a volcano, rises to the northwest, with a trig point at 497 metres, and Motuoapa Bay is directly to the north.^[4]

A youth hostel opened at Motuoapa in 1955^[5] and a marina was built in 1961.^[6]

Statistics New Zealand describes Motuoapa as a rural settlement, which covers 3.34 km² (1.29 sq mi)^[1] and had an estimated population of 460 as of June 2024,^[2] with a population density of 138 people per km². The settlement is part of the larger Lake Taupo Bays statistical area.^[7]

Motuoapa had a population of 360 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 123 people (51.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 132 people (57.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 159 households, comprising 171 males and 189 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.9 males per female, with 39 people (10.8%) aged under 15 years, 21 (5.8%) aged 15 to 29, 174 (48.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 129 (35.8%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 85.0% European/Pākehā, 20.8% Māori, 0.8% Pacific peoples, 3.3% Asian, and 3.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 51.7% had no religion, 39.2% were Christian, 0.8% had Māori religious beliefs and 0.8% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 66 (20.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 63 (19.6%) people had no formal qualifications. 48 people (15.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 120 (37.4%) people were employed full-time, 54 (16.8%) were part-time, and 6 (1.9%) were unemployed.^[8]

Map showing surface volcanic deposits near Motuoapa Peninsula. Clicking on the map enlarges it, and enables panning and mouseover of volcano name/wikilink and ages before present. Key for the volcanics that are shown with panning is:   basalt (shades of brown/orange),   monogenetic basalts,

  undifferentiated basalts of the Tangihua Complex in Northland Allochthon,

  arc basalts,   arc ring basalts,

  dacite,

  andesite (shades of red),   basaltic andesite,

  rhyolite, (ignimbrite is lighter shades of violet),

and   plutonic. White shading is selected caldera features.

The highest point of Motuoapa Peninsula, at its north-eastern tip is a dacite volcano that has been dated as last erupting at 34,500 ± 3,100 years ago.^[9] The other volcanic formations, some of which the dacite cone is built upon, are older rhyolite with two different eruption ages of 81,300 and 77,200 years ago.^[9] At the time of the rhyolite eruptions, they were initially on the lake floor of the former Lake Huka which was replaced by Lake Taupō after the Oruanui eruption of the Taupō Volcano 25,400 years ago.^[9] Although the magma reservoir that fed these Motuoapa eruptions appears to be separate from the one(s) that produced the more recent much larger Taupō eruptions, the type of eruption commencing under water but not staying underwater is felt possible in the future from the Taupō Volcano.^[9] A perhaps unexpected characteristic is the thickness of the pyroclastic deposits produced at Motuoapa, as these indicate that such rhyolite dome building which was assumed to be mostly effusive, can have explosive pyroclastic stages that would be very disruptive and dangerous.^[9]