The first city on earth to greet each new day — where Gisborne sits at the easternmost point of the New Zealand mainland on the shores of Poverty Bay (Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, named 'Poverty Bay' by Captain James Cook in 1769 after his first New Zealand landing failed to obtain supplies), and the Tūranganui River mouth in the city centre — 1.2 km long, the shortest named river in New Zealand — is the exact spot where Cook made first European contact with Māori on October 9, 1769, the Gisborne wine district produces more Chardonnay by tonnage than any other region in New Zealand (the Poverty Bay flats are some of the easternmost commercial vineyards in the world), Wainui Beach (12 km north) delivers the most consistent east-facing Pacific swells on the North Island, and Eastwoodhill Arboretum (35 km inland) holds the largest collection of northern hemisphere autumn-foliage trees in the Southern Hemisphere
Gisborne (35,000 city; 48,000 district) is the easternmost city in New Zealand — the first city in the world to greet each new day — on the shores of Poverty Bay (Tūranganui-a-Kiwa) at the mouth of the Tūranganui River. Gisborne is the hub of the Tairāwhiti region and is the least-visited major New Zealand city by international tourists despite its status as the site of European first contact with New Zealand on October 9, 1769.
Gisborne (Tūranganui-a-Kiwa in Māori — 'the place of Kiwa') is where Captain James Cook's HMS Endeavour made first contact with the Māori people on October 9, 1769 — the first sustained interaction between Māori and European explorers in recorded history (Abel Tasman had sighted New Zealand in 1642 but did not land; the Māori canoes that came to greet him were fired upon). The first encounters at Tūranganui-a-Kiwa were violent: four Māori men were shot and killed by Cook's crew in the first three days, leading Cook to name the bay 'Poverty Bay' in frustration at his inability to obtain suppli…