Sights in East Cape
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East Coast Museum of Technology & Transport
The East Coast Museum of Technology & Transport is an improbable collation of rusty tractors, lawn mowers, engines, spanners, ploughs, ovens, chainsaws, trucks, pumps, harvesters, motorbikes and so on – a shrine to peoples’ inventive capacity or their ability to horde junk?
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A
Tairawhiti Museum
The Tairawhiti Museum focuses on East Coast Maori and colonial history. Its gallery is Gisborne’s arts hub, with rotating exhibits, and the permanent display of ‘Shutterbug Jack’s’ photographs is not to be missed. There’s a tearoom-style cafe overlooking Kelvin Park, and outside is the reconstructed Wyllie Cottage (1872), Gisborne’s oldest house.
The Te Moana Maritime Museum occupies a wing of the Tairawhiti complex. When the Star of Canada foundered on a Gisborne reef in 1912, the ship’s bridge and captain’s cabin were salvaged, installed in a local home, then later moved here for restoration. Displays on waka, whaling and Cook’s Poverty Bay visit pale be…
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Eastwoodhill Arboretum
Arboreal nirvana, Eastwoodhill Arboretum is 35km northwest of Gisborne. Staggeringly beautiful, you could easily lose a day wandering around the 25km of themed tracks in this pine-scented paradise. It’s the country’s largest collection of imported trees and shrubs, but the birds love it just the same.
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Kahungunu Marae
Not far from the Nuhaka roundabout is Kahungunu Marae. From the street you can note the carving at the house’s apex of a standing warrior holding a taiaha (spear). It’s less stylised than most traditional carving, opting for simple realism.
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Tolaga Bay Cashmere Company
Just off the main street, Tolaga Bay Cashmere Company inhabits the art-deco former council building. You can watch the knitters at work and then purchase one of their delicate, pricey handiworks; the seconds are sold at a discount.
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B
Te Poho o Rawiri Marae
Te Poho o Rawiri Marae has an elaborately carved meeting house. You can get a decent view from the gates but you’ll need to call ahead to ask for permission to view the decorated interior.
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Presbyterian Church
The historic Presbyterian Church is the only building in the village to have survived Te Kooti’s 1868 raid. It’s a sweetly simple affair with lovingly tended gardens.
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C
Te Tauihu Turanga Whakamana
Te Tauihu Turanga Whakamana is a large modern Maori sculpture incorporating the images of two men killed during Cook’s first interaction with the locals.
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D
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Titirangi
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G
Statue of Young Nick
Gisborne deifies Captain Cook. In a park by the river mouth there’s a Statue of Young Nick (Nicholas Young), Cook’s cabin boy, whose eagle eyes were the first to spot NZ (the white cliffs at Young Nick’s Head). There’s a Captain Cook statue here too, erected on a globe etched with his roaming routes.
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H
Cook National Historic Reserve & Cook Monument
Across the river at the foot of Titirangi (Kaiti Hill) is the spot where Cook first got NZ dirt on his boots (9 October 1769 according to Cook’s journal, but actually the 8th). The Cook National Historic Reserve & Cook Monument is a grim obelisk facing the end of the wharves. This scrappy site is made even more significant by being the landing point of the Horouta waka.
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