Tauranga Brothers Sam, 10, and Wade Meredith, 8, are spending the summer learning to surf at Omanu Beach. John Borren captured them in action.

The long, hot and dry summer ended dramatically on Friday night and Saturday morning, with torrential rain washing out the 3 x 3 basketball tournament planned for the spectacular setting of the Tauranga waterfront. But the large number of teams involved shifted indoors to the QEYC and got on with the action. Photos by George Novak.

Rugby 10-aside was once seen as the likely partner for the 15-aside game until sevens rugby took over. But every year the Te Puna Rugby Club runs an outstanding tournament featuring the best of rugby 10s, with this summer's version held on Saturday at Maramatanga Park. Photographer George Novak was there.

Little Nippers got a taste of the action at the Eastern Regional Tournament for junior surf lifesavers for 7 to 12-year-olds at Mount Maunganui Main Beach. Photographer George Novak captured the action.

Photographer George Novak got among it at the Te Puke A&P Show at the weekend and captured some of the fun on camera.

Mount Maunganui's boutique football ground at Links Ave hosted WaiBOP United playing Wanders SC from Auckland in a crucial ASB Premiership match at the weekend. WaiBOP won 3-1 and in the early game, WaiBOP United's youth team drew 3-3 with Auckland United. Andrew Warner captured the action.

The New Zealand Beach Volleyball Open concluded on Sunday after three days of qualifying and intense matches played out at Mount Maunganui's main beach. Photographer Andrew Warner captured the action.

The Little Big Markets returned to the Mount on Saturday. Bay of Plenty Times photographer Andrew Warner popped along.

Photographer George Novak captured some of the thrills on show above Tauranga skies at the biennial Classics of the Sky Tauranga City Air Show

The Pascall Candy Carnival came to Mount Maunganui's Coronation Park on Saturday, with lollies up for grabs at various innovative games like Toss the Eskimo. Photographer Andrew Warner dropped by to snap the colourful fun.

Photographer Joel Ford picked out some of his favourite shots of the year, capturing some amazing sports feats and New Year celebrations.

Model train enthusiasts, young and old alike, turned out to see the Tauranga Model Railway Show yesterday. George Novak was there to capture the fun.

Today marks the second anniversary of Rena's containers and debris washing ashore on Matakana Island. The Bay of Plenty Times was there to capture the mess, and work being done to clean it up. Check out some of these pictures that have not been published before.

The inaugural Tauranga Sikh Parade on Saturday was hosted by Tauranga's Sikh Sangat Temple and was part of a traditional Indian ritual to mark the birth of the religion's revered 10th leader, Guru Gobind Singh. Photos by Ruth Keber.

Photographer Andrew Warner picked out some of his favourite shots of the year, ranging from summertime fun to hard and tragic news.

Thousands of people turned out to see Tiki Taane, Hollie Smith and Anna Coddington perform at Little Big Markets' Christmas in the Park. Photographer Katie Cox captured the fun.

Tauranga's downtown was abuzz yesterday with The Phoenix Family Fun Day's array of attractions at Masonic Park. George Novak was there to photograph some of the crowd enjoying the activities and sunshine.

Hundreds turned out to see the Te Puke Christmas Float Parade on Saturday. Andrew Warner was there to capture the action.

They have the ability to ruin a summer evening with their blood-thirsty ways. George Novak gets up close with mosquitoes. These close up images were taken at 5x optical magnification. The extreme close up images at 10x optical magnification using a Nikon microscope lens mounted on to the camera. The images were taken under controlled environmental conditions.

Tauranga Swimming Club held its Summer Carnival at Memorial Park pool on Saturday. Photographer Joel Ford was there to capture some of the action.

Competitors were up bright and early for the trail run at the TECT All-Terrain Park yesterday. George Novak was there to watch them.

Bay of Plenty Times photographer Joel Ford captured all the fun of youngsters in the class competitions at the RDA Ribbon Day on Saturday.

Record numbers of men and women pushed themselves to their physical limits at New Zealand's biggest ever CrossFit event held at the ASB Arena, Baypark, during Labour Weekend. The Mount CrossFit National Teams Competition attracted 84 teams and was a huge success with large crowds of spectators attending. JOEL FORD was there.

Participants enjoyed the waka ama open day hosted by the Tauranga Moana Outrigger Canoe Club yesterday. Photographer George Novak took the images.

Saturday's opening round of the 2013 Mauao Beach Volleyball series was held at Mount Maunganui's main beach. The stormy weather made conditions difficult to master for the players but in between the squally showers there was plenty of top-quality action on show. Photos by John Borren.

Te Puke fire brigade held a parade to celebrate 100 years in service on Saturday. Photographer George Novak was there.

The sun was shining and temperatures reached 25C at ASB Baypark Stadium on Saturday for the ITM Cup match between Bay of Plenty Steamers and Waikato. The Hauraki chapter of the Patriots motorcycle group put on a halftime display to lend their support to Bay of Plenty Rugby's White Ribbon campaign to stop violence towards women. Photographer George Novak snapped the action.

The Tauranga Downtown Festival was the place to be on Saturday afternoon. Photographer George Novak went along as well.

Photos of the week Sept 22- 28

Readers have been sending in photos showing what they love about the Bay of Plenty. From Saturday, October 5 you will be able to vote for your favourite photo here and be in to win a brand new Apple iPad Mini 16GB.