[1] Tararu has a boat ramp,[2] a 91-dwelling retirement village,[3] a store,[4] 2 motels,[5][6] a holiday park[7] and is the northern terminus of the Thames Connector bus.

[12] The Tararu Stream drains a steep hilly catchment of 15.5 km2 (6.0 sq mi) in the Coromandel Range with regenerating native vegetation and scrub.

[17] Ngāti Maru owned Tararu until it was sold, amid some controversy, in 1867,[18] after gold had been discovered.

Much of the ore was hard to process, and poor transport had initially held back development.

[20] The Tararu valley was part of the Coromandel goldfield and had 5 batteries, with 141 stampers in about 1870,[29] from Brown Campbell & Co at the mouth of the stream, to Tower of London Gold Mining Co at the top.