WELCOME TO THE CAPE COAST

Here you will find everything that makes Hawke’s Bay a wonderful region for locals and tourists alike, an area of historic, natural, cultural and ‘national significance’.

 

This rugged iconic coastline where the waves beat on stone and gravel, ionising and invigorating the atmosphere, is representative of all that Kiwis hold dear in terms of holidaying by the beach, scenic beauty, fishing, swimming, surfing, boating, cycling or just taking a leisurely walk along the limestone cycleway that links the communities from Black Bridge to Clifton. 

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The Cape Coast is an umbrella term adopted around 2009 by groups working toward a more cohesive identity for Haumoana, Te Awanga and Clifton, which has gained traction through use by locals, media and councils. 

 

For statistical purposes ‘Haumoana’ is used to define the census region which had a population of 2,260 in the 2013 census, a subtle increase of around 20 over the previous decade, but expected to show significant growth by the next census in 2018. 

 

Managed growth is expected through a series of medium sub-divisions at both Te Awanga and Haumoana, adding around 120 new homes by 2020. 

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A Cape Coast Reserves Management Plan approved by the Hastings District Council in 2017 proposes a major replanting and beautification across the length of the Cape Coast.

 

The character of the area from East Clive to Clifton is shaped and defined by the coastal environment intersected by the Ngaruroro, Tukituki and Maraetotara river mouths. It is framed between the light reflecting peninsula of Cape Kidnappers, the low hill country and fertile land reaching from the Tuki Tuki Valley to the ebb and flow and sometimes wild raging of the Pacific Ocean.
 
Hastings District Council’s logo clearly pictures a graceful gannet over Cape Kidnappers and many of the regions tourism publications and pamphlets also defer to the scenic beauty and natural wonder right on the front door of the Cape Coast.

 

The largest inland colony of gannets in the southern hemisphere remains one of the region’s major tourist attractions. They have been nesting at Cape Kidnappers since the 1870s, with overland and coastal operators taking visitors to view the birds between November to May each year.

 

Today the Cape Coast encompasses dozens of orchards, market gardens and vineyards meandering down to a flat coastal strip and pebble beach. It has many home businesses from tradespeople to digital era entrepreneurs and is a thriving creative hub and home to artists, sculptors, woodworkers, craftspeople, media specialists, writers and designers.  

 

It has award-winning wineries and restaurants, orchards, vineyards, the British Car Museum, the Clifton Station Wool Museum, the Clifton Marine Club, the Clifton Cricket Club, accommodation, two camping grounds and a free-camping reserve, a co-operating church, fire station, two dairies, a small commercial centre, the Hawke’s Bay Farmyard Zoo, and the Landscapes Trail, part of Hawke’s Bay’s network of  cycling and walking tracks.
 
The Cape Coast Arts and Heritage Trust, is working on creating an Arts and Heritage Trail, an idea advanced and supported by the council after consultation with the local community, to tell the story of the hidden heritage of the area through a series of curated graphical information sites from Black Bridge to Clifton.

We at WOW are passionate about the Cape Coast and all that it has to offer, and want to help to keep it accessible for future generations of New Zealanders and visitors alike, and are sure that once you’ve visited you’ll never want to leave, and will want to help too - join us to help preserve and protect our heritage. Thank you.