Protecting what you play in is at the heart of these environmentally conscious backpackers, who decided to band together for a harbourside clean up this week.

Backpackers Mickael Martins, Luisa Schuler, Alice Messim and Simone Mecklenburg teamed up with a local "nature ambassador" and gathered any rubbish they could find in Tauranga's harbour.

The group says the purpose of the clean-up effort is to "look after and respect" the very thing they came to New Zealand for; mother nature and the outdoors.

"We met Mark and he asked us if we would like to do a habourside clean-up with him. It's a beautiful country, and this is our way of giving back," says Luisa Schuler.

"We have been in Tauranga for a few weeks, so it is our responsibility to look after this place we are visiting," says Alice Messin.

Fellow backpacker Mickael Martins says looking after a country you are visiting is very important.

"We are here to be part of the community and help as much as we can," says Mickeal.

"We are not here to make more work for people who's job it is to clean up the water. We contribute to pollution coming here, so we have to recognise that and do something."

Mickael and Alice are from France, while Luisa and Simone hail from Germany. The group met in a local Tauranga hostel, and say New Zealand is a "far cleaner" country than their own.

"People in New Zealand are seeing nature more day to day, in Paris it is easy to forget about nature. I think that's a big reason why it is so clean here," says Alice.

"In Germany there are more than 80 million people," says Simone.

"In New Zealand there's around 5 million people, so people are much more engaged with nature and thoughtful about the environment around them."

Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

The travellers add they have been in Tauranga for "a few weeks" and have thoroughly enjoyed their time in the city so far.

"It's very cool, there are lots of things to do here and the nature is beautiful," says Luisa.

After the clean-up the travellers say they are looking forward to further exploring what New Zealand has to offer, and spending more time in the great Aotearoa outdoors.