Explore Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay and the Wairarapa
No visit to Napier and Hastings is complete without a visit to the world’s most accessible mainland gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers and an exploration of the region’s surrounding seventy or so wineries.
Brief history
After James Cook’s ill-starred initial encounter with Maori at Gisborne, he sailed to the southern limit of Hawke Bay and anchored off the jagged peninsula known to the Ngati Kahungunu as Te Matua-a-maui, “the fishhook of Maui” – a reference to the origin of the North Island, which was, as legend has it, dragged from the oceans by Maui. Here, Maori traders noticed two young Tahitian interpreters aboard the Endeavour; believing them to be held against their will, the traders captured one of them and paddled away. The boy escaped back to the ship but Cook subsequently marked the point on his chart as Cape Kidnappers.
Neither Cook nor Joseph Banks, both meticulous in recording flora and fauna, mentioned any gannets on the peninsula’s final shark-tooth flourish of pinnacles. However, a hundred years later, twenty or so pairs were recorded, and now there are 20,000 birds – making this the largest mainland gannet colony in the world.
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Hawke’s Bay wine country
Hawke’s Bay wine country
Napier and Hastings are almost entirely encircled by the Hawke’s Bay’s wine country, one of New Zealand’s largest and most exalted grape-growing regions. Largely the province of boutique producers, it is threaded by the Hawke’s Bay wine trail, which wends past 35-odd wineries, some offering free tastings and many with a restaurant, or at least the chance to picnic in landscaped grounds.
With a climatic pattern similar to that of the great Bordeaux vineyards, Hawke’s Bay produces fine Chardonnay and lots of Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon is also big but struggles to ripen in cooler summers. Many winemakers are now setting Hawke’s Bay up to become New Zealand’s flagship producer of Syrah, a subtler version of the Aussie Shiraz (though it is made from the same grape) that utilises the original European name.
Much of the country covered by the wine trail is also part of the region’s art and food trails.
Brief history
Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s longest-established wine-growing region: French Marist missionaries planted the first vines in 1851, ostensibly to produce sacramental wine. The excess was sold, and the commercial aspect of the operation continues today as the Mission Estate Winery. Some fifty years later, other wineries began to spring up, favouring open-textured gravel terraces alongside the Tutaekuri, Ngaruroro and Tukituki rivers, which retain the day’s heat and are free from moist sea breezes. In this arena the vineyards of the Gimblett Road – the so-called Gimblett Gravels – produce increasingly world-renowned wines.
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The Cape Kidnappers gannets
The Cape Kidnappers gannets
Gannets (closely related to boobies) are big birds that can live for as long as thirty years. They’re distinguished by their gold-and-black head markings and a complete lack of fear of humans. The birds at Cape Kidnappers start nesting in June, laying their eggs from early July through to October, with the chicks hatching six weeks later. Once fledged, at around fifteen weeks, the young gannets embark on their inaugural flight, a marathon, as-yet-unexplained 3000km journey to Australia, where they spend a couple of years before flying back to spend the rest of their life in New Zealand, returning to their place of birth to breed each year. It is thought that the birds mate for life, using the same or an adjacent nest each year, but recent observation indicates that adultery does occur – usually because of mistaken identity.
During the breeding season (July–mid-Oct), the cape is closed to the public. One of the three colonies, the Saddle, is reserved for scientific study and allows no public access. The remaining two colonies, Plateau and Black Reef, are open outside the breeding season, and at the former you will get within a metre or so of the birds. When pairs reunite, after a fishing- or nest-material-gathering trip, you can get close enough to hear their beaks clack together in greeting.
