About Gisborne
The first city in the world to see the sun each day. Known for its scenic, coastal beauty and stunning hinterland with wilderness lakes and mountains ranges. Gisborne is renowned for its white-sand beaches, lack of crowds and having some of New Zealand best surf breaks right here on our door step.
The Maori name for the district is Tairawhiti which means “The coast upon which the sun shines across the water”. Kaiti Beach, near the city, was where the Maori immigrational waka, Horouta, landed; and is also the first European landing place in New Zealand.
Captain Cook first set foot here in 1767. European settlement was established in 1831 and the town which developed was named after Hon William Gisborne, the colonial secretary in 1870.
Prior to this the settlement was known as Turanga but confusion with Tauranga, (Bay of Plenty) led it to its name change.
The Gisborne district population of 45,000, generally has warm summers and mild winters. Gisborne is one of the sunniest places in New Zealand with the average yearly sunshine of around 2200 hours. The regions annual rainfall varies from about 1000mm near the coast to over 2500 in the higher inland country. Temperatures of 38 degrees have been recorded and an average 65 days a year have a maximum of over 24 degrees.
The Poverty Bay plains contain 20,200 ha of rich alluvial river flats which, combined with mild temperatures makes the district an ideal area for growing of maize, grapes, kiwifruit, citrus and sub-tropical fruits. Grapes are grown in vast quantities and Gisborne has consistently won awards for some of the best wines in the country.
The district is mainly hill country, well situated to grazing. Sheep, cattle, deer, and goats are farmed. Pinus radiata forests have been planted throughout the region with forestry now a major landuse.
