GISBORNE !

We're off to Gisborne, to explore another corner of New Zealand!

Gisborne is a seaside destination and its claim to fame is that is the first city in the world to see the light. something to do with the world's axis..
It is one of the sunniest places in New Zealand, and after the winter that is what we're looking for!



The Māori name for the region is Tairawhiti, which means 'the coast upon which the sun shines across the water'.
Gisborne is named after an early Colonial Secretary William Gisborne.
Whereabouts is it - well, about 5-6 hours from where we live.



The city of Gisborne is at the north end of Poverty Bay and it has white cliffs called Young Nick's Head because Captain James Cook's had evidently got fed up naming everything he was discovering, so he allowed the crew member who first saw it, to give it a name!
A memorial to Cook stands on the foreshore, marking the point where he first stepped ashore in New Zealand on October 8, 1769.




It is sometimes known as the City of Rivers as the centre of town is the convergence of three different rivers.
The last geological event here, of note, was in 2007, when the region was hit by an earthquake of Richter Magnitude 6.8. Let's hope that's the last one for a while!