Gisborne, New Zealand
For other uses of Gisborne see Gisborne (disambiguation).Gisborne is the name of a unitary authority (in this case, a region and district) in
New Zealand, named after an early Colonial Secretary
William Gisborne. It contains the city of the same name.
The region is located in the northeastern corner of the
North Island and is also referred to as the
East Cape or
East Coast or Eastland region. It is a sparsely inhabited and isolated region, with small settlements mainly clinging to small bays along the eastern shore such as
Tokomaru Bay and
Tolaga Bay. Other than the city of Gisborne, the main settlement is the town of
Ruatoria. The population of the region is about 45,000, with two-thirds of those living in the city. No other settlement has a population of over 1000.
Inland, the land is rough, predominantly forested, hill country.
Te Urewera National Park is located in the west of the region, and the
Kaingaroa Forest is located just to the west of that. A spine of rough ridges dominates the centre of the region, culminating in the impressive bulk of the 1620 metre
Mount Hikurangi in the region's northeast. This mountain is the fifth highest mountain in the North Island. Regarded as sacred by the
Māori, there is some justification to the claims that this is the first mountain to see the sun in summer (see note below under
Gisborne City).
The region's population has a higher than the national average proportion of Māori - over 50% in some areas - and still maintains strong ties to both Māori tradition and the
iwi and
marae structure. The predominant iwi in the region are
Ngati Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngai Tamanuhiri, Te Aitanga a Mahaki.
 |
NASA satellite photo of Gisborne |
The city of Gisborne is located at the north end of
Poverty Bay. The white cliff headland of
Young Nick's Head at the other end of the bay is visible from the city. The cliffs can be seen in the left hand side of the stat photo associated with this site.
This prominence was the first part of New Zealand sighted by the crew of Captain
James Cook's ship
Endeavour, and was named for the crew member who first saw it. A memorial to Cook stands on the foreshore, marking the point where he first stepped ashore in New Zealand on
October 8,
1769.
On the right hand side of the sat photo at the other end of the bay, known as Poverty Bay, is
Kaiti Hill. This hill overlooks the town and magnificent views can be obtained by driving or walking to the summit.
 |
Central Gisborne viewed from Kaiti hill |
The city maintains a rural charm and is a popular holiday spot. Local industries include
agriculture,
horticulture,
farming and
forestry.
Wine production is also valuable to the local economy.It is sometimes known as the City of Rivers as the centre of town is the convergence of three different rivers.
Gisborne City has four main high (secondary) schools:
Gisborne Boys' High, Gisborne Girls' High, Lytton High and Campion College.
The harbour was host to many ships in the past. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped from here. Now the harbour is the home of many smaller fishing boats as well as ships loading logs for export.
 |
Coastal suburbs of Gisborne viewed from Kaiti hill |
Gisborne boasts being the first city in the world to greet the sun each day. Technically, however, this is only true for part of the year. Both
Suva,
Fiji, and
Nuku'alofa,
Tonga, are closer to the
International Date Line and therefore would seem more likely candidates for this title. Due to the earth's tilt on its axis, however, Gisborne does overtake their claim as New Zealand summer days grow longer. In the longest days of summer, though, it again loses the title to the hillier suburbs of
Dunedin in the
South Island.
The city has the benefit of being very close to the white sand beaches of Waikanae and Midway. A short distance from the city is the surf beach of Wainui.
Two major annual events are the
Dawn Raid Beach Day Out, which is an outdoor concert featuring many of the
Dawn Raid Hip Hop stars held in January, and the
Rhythm & Vines concert held every
New Years Eve which features a huge concert featuring well-known
New Zealand bands performing in a
vineyard.
*
Kelly Evernden (September 21, 1962), professional tennis player
*
Graham Sligo (December 24, 1954), field hockey player
*
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (March 6, 1944), opera singer
{|valign="top"|
* Awapuni
* Elgin
* Gaddums Hill
* Kaiti
* Mangapapa
* Riverdale
|
* Riverside
* Riverview
* Sponge Bay
* Tamarau
* Te Hapara | |
* Te Wharau
* Waikanae
* Waikirikiri
* Wainui Beach
* Whataupoko | 
