East Cape

East Cape is the easternmost point of the main islands of New Zealand. It is located to the north of Gisborne in the northeast of the North Island.

The name East Cape is also used to refer to the Gisborne region around the cape stretching from just north of the Mahia Peninsula northwards, and inland to Te Urewera National Park. This region was the site of many of the major conflicts of the New Zealand land wars in the 1860s.

East Cape reaches out to the Pacific Ocean, and is the first mainland place in the world to see the sun each day.

There's a wonderfully fresh quality to the scenery of Eastland. Bush fringed misty mountain lakes, beaches that have hardly changed for hundreds of years, farmland and vineyards that breathe the spirit of nature.

The further you go, the more nature's bounty tempts—camping, diving, fishing, hunting, swimming and surfing opportunities abound.

There are many interesting and beautiful walks within the region, but one of the most stunning areas for hiking and trekking is in the Te Urewera National Park, the third largest national park and the largest untouched native forest in New Zealand. Soft adventure, such as horse trekking is another way to experience the magic of East Cape.

The East Cape offers a slow, peaceful existence to those who reside there, and an equally relaxed, enchanting place for its visitors. With few harbours and a mountainous, wild bush interior, the Cape has been isolated for many years until the road network was completed. Inhabited predominantly by Maori, Gisborne and the Cape region place great emphasis on the retention of their culture and traditions - it is here you will hear Te Reo Maori (the Maori language) being spoken fluently and freely.

  • East Cape

  • View from East Cape looking towards East Island/Whangaokeno

Famous quotes containing the words east and/or cape:

    “Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.”
    —Philip Guedalla (1889–1944)

    “A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)