"The land on the Sea-Coast is high with steep cliffs, and back inland are very high mountains...the face of the Country is of a hilly surface and appears to be cloathed with wood and Verdure."
Captain Cook wrote this in his journal on 8 October 1769, seven days before he landed at Cape Kidnappers.
Of course, it wasn't Cape Kidnappers then. When he first sailed into the area, he named the general area Hawke's Bay after Sir Edward Hawke, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Cape Kidnappers got its name when one of Cook's crew members named Tiata was in the water near the
Endeavor. Suddenly a Maori fishing boat came alongside and scooped Tiata up, but Cook's crew immediately opened fire on the Maori craft. Tiata jumped out of their boat and swam back to the
Endeavor, but the attempted kidnapping prompted Cook to give the headland of the southeastern end of Hawke's Bay the name of Cape Kidnappers.
Cape Kidnappers is home to a Gannet reserve. These birds have inflatable air sacs in their necks and breasts, which act as shock absorbers when they dive into the water. Sheep also wander the bay area, including the golf course.
It looks so pristine,
so inviting.
Want to go for a walk?
Quick - where is Chan Chan located?
Chan Chan is the largest mud city of the Americas and the world's largest adobe city.
It was built by the Chimor civilization.
The adobe bricks were covered by cement which was then carved into intricate (yet stylized) shapes.
Unfortunately, Chan Chan is at risk of erosion (as one would guess of a city made of mud), so there is great effort underway to figure out how to preserve it.
It looks like a marvelous place to spend a day just wandering and looking.
