-	All photographs of Gisborne

One of the most eastern cities in the world is New Zealand’s Gisborne. Located at the northern end of Poverty Bay, in the East Coast Region in the North Island. This is s seaside city has beautiful Pacific Ocean beaches up and down the coast. It’s a surfers Mecca, with a large Maori community. The subtropical climate and over 2200 annual average sunshine hours, create perfect growing conditions and award winning wines.

Gisborne’s Maori history goes back around about 1000 years, they called this area Tairawhiti which translates to "the place where the sun rises from the sea". This was one of the first places in the country to be populated by Maori. Today Maori make up almost 45% of the local population. The prominent tribes or iwi in this area are the Ngati Porou, Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga a Mahaki and the Ngai Tamanuhiri.

“Young Nicks Head” is the headland to the south of Poverty Bay, it was the first part of New Zealand sighted by the crew of Capitan James Cook’s Endeavour. It is named after the cabin boy Nick, whom was the first of the crew to sight Aotearoa. Cook himself made his first landing where Gisborne stands today. There is a memorial at the foreshore that shows where he first stepped on NZ soil, on the 8th of October 1769.

Gisborne lies at the confluence of three rivers, the Turanganui River, the Taruheru River and the Waimata River. This city is also renowned for its many bridges. Just to the east of the city centre is Kaiti Hill. The views from the top of this hill are magnificent. There is also a statue of Cook and a tree planted in 1983 by the late Princess Dianna.

There are many superb white silica sandy beaches up and down the coast. Midway Beach, Waikanae Beach and Wainui Beach are all great surf beaches, all handy to town.

The local port used to be one of the busiest in the country when it was exporting wool and frozen meat, grown and processed in this locally. Today it is used to export exotic pine logs harvested throughout the East Coast Region, and is also home to a small local fishing fleet.

State Highway 2 passes through Gisborne, and intercity busses pas through here daily from Napier and the Bay Of Plenty. The local Gisborne airport has daily flights to many North Island destinations.

There are two renowned annual events held here over the summer. The Dawn Raid Beach Day Out, this is an outdoor concert featuring many of the Dawn Raid Hip hop stars, held in January, The Rhythm and Vines concert is held every New Year’s Eve, and feature’s many well known New Zealand bands performing open-air, in a vineyard.

There are some great accommodation options in the Gisborne area. You will find the backpackers near the town centre as well as many hotels and motels throughout the town. You can also rent a holiday house near the beach or tucked away in a native forest setting. There is something here for everyone.
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