WELCOME TO THE CAPE COAST

Literally and in every other way giving Hawke’s Bay ‘an edge’!

The Cape Coast is only a leisurely 15-minute drive from the twin cities of Napier and Hastings and the village of Havelock North, offering everything that makes Hawke’s Bay a wonderful region for locals and tourists alike.

This rugged, pebbly and iconic coastline where the waves beat on stone and gravel, ionising and

invigorating the atmosphere, represents 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.

The umbrella name, Cape Coast, was first adopted in 2009 by groups working for coastal protection and a more cohesive identity for the coastal villages of Haumoana, Te Awanga and Clifton.

The area, once neglected as an insignificant dormitory suburb, dismissed for its stoney beaches and its generational battle against coastal erosion, has in recent decades undergone a transformation to a sought-after retirement, holiday and lifestyle destination. It is framed by the radiant landscape of Cape Kidnapers, the low hill country and fertile land of the Tukituki Valley and the braided river of the same name that runs down to the mouth at Haumoana and out to the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps the semi-rural boundaries are marked between the two bridges, the Black

Bridge at the entrance to the Cape Coast and the Red Bridge at the southern end of the Tukituki Valley.

The Cape Coast is home to a major gannet colony, the world famous Kidnappers Golf Course, classy accommodation, award-winning wineries and restaurants; it hosts major outdoor music events and its villages are connected by a limestone cycle track which features public art and heritage information.

There are orchards, market gardens, vineyards, the Hawke’s Bay Farmyard Zoo, Clifton Station Wool Museum, the Clifton Marine Club, adventure tourism, two campgrounds, free-camping reserve areas, playgrounds, a school, a co-operating church, fire station, mini supermarket, pub, takeaways and friendly cafes.

The Cape features the largest inland colony of gannets in the southern hemisphere and remains one of the region’s major tourist attractions. The gannets have been nesting at Cape Kidnappers since the 1870s, with overland operators taking visitors to view the birds between November to May each year. Hastings District Council’s logo clearly pictures a graceful gannet over Cape Kidnappers as do many of the region’s tourism publications and pamphlets.

Erosion and flood protection structures are now in place and being extended, a cycle track connects the villages with each other and wider region, new subdivisions have sprung up, and as former three term Hastings’ mayor Sandra Hazlehurst so often said, the Cape Coast is a jewel in Hawke’s Bay’s crown.

Stay for a couple of nights or a week, check out local luxury or bed and breakfast accommodation or perhaps make a day visit with family and friends exploring on foot, bring bikes, or hire them. The villages and the wider region are connected up by the limestone Landscapes network of cycle trails. Te Matau-a-Maui Heritage Trail makies the most of the local Cape Coast stretch with kiosks at Black Bridge or Clifton where you can learn about local history and view the public art along the way.

Explore Our Area

Gannet Safaris Overland

Cape Kidnappers Golf Course

Hawke's Bay Farmyard Zoo

Clifton Station

Surfing at Te Awanga Point

Clifton Marine Club

Fishing

Cape Coast Cycle Track

Te Matau-a-Maui Heritage Trail

Accomodation

Wining & Dining

Arts & Craft

Who we are

Statistics show ‘Haumoana-Te Awanga’ had a population of 2385 by the 2023 census, a slight

increase on the headcount a decade earlier. A problematic 2018 census suggested an exodus of around

330 people but a re-evaluation in 2023 census and subsequent June 2024 data confirmed a growth trend.

Haumoana at 1146 people an increase of 63 people and Te Awanga at 687, a decrease of 36. There

were 423 dwellings in Haumoana and 294 in Te Awanga (total 717).

Beyond the statistical catchment the unofficial Cape Coast variant embracing new subdivisions and the lower foothills behind Te Awanga and the Tukituki Valley could possibly add another 300-400 into the

mix. After two problematic census evaluations the Government decided 2023 would be the last of its kind.

In June 2024 Statistics NZ had the Cape Coast slotted into Hastings District East running from

Waimarama to East Clive including rural areas such as Tukituki Valley with an overall population of 5410.

Haumoana, Te Awanga, Clifton and Tuktituki Valley comprised over one third of those. The data

suggested and equal number of male and female residents, 1398 families with an overall median age of

45.3 years with 954 Maori, with an average age 31-years.

Those in Hastings District East were allegedly more educated with higher incomes than the average New

Zealander and a higher percentage owning their own homes (80.5% compared to 66% nationwide).

There were 786 businesses registered in this wider coastal and neighbouring rural areas

An Ecological Haven

Restoring natures heritage

While Cape Kidnappers has achieved global fame for its gannets and

its exclusive golf course, ecological accolades are flowing for the

investment made by landowners in transforming its southern

boundaries into a protected nature preserve hosting one of the

country’s most successful kiwi breeding programmes.

Since 2006, the Cape Sanctuary has been the subject of an i

ntensive restoration programme for native trees, bush, plants,

wildlife and seabirds and the catalyst for an ever-expanding nature

preservation zone running down to Ocean Beach and on to the outskirts of Hastings city. The sanctuary was established in 2006 and in 2007 with a 10.6 kilometre stainless-steel predator-proof fence erected from Clifton to Ocean Beach across three farming properties, taking in 2400 ha of land. The sanctuary has been reintroducing indigenous plants and species and protected habitats for seabird colonies on the mainland, including burrowing seabirds which act as ‘aerial topdressers and underground tillers’ whose burrows are used by other wildlife including lizards. The reason kiwis, lizards, tuatara and a growing range of birdlife are doing so well is that predators and pests such as cats, stoats, ferrets, rats, hedgehogs and possums have almost been eliminated from within its environs.

Time and Tide

The tidal estuaries of the Tukituki inlet which nudge along the

perimeter of Haumoana to the south of the river are a breeding

ground for inanga, a species of whitebait which spend the first part of

their life at seabefore maturing and spawning in freshwater during late

summer and autumn. Their eggs take about a month to hatch and the

larvae then use the high tide to be carried out to sea then returning to

“run the gauntlet of whitebaiters” and larger fish and birds in the

famous coastal boil ups in August to October. Those that survive

grow in low areas of rivers and wetlands before returning to start the cycle again spawning near the river mouth. While the number of local lizards or skinks used to be plentiful, particularly around the mingimingi bushes in Haumoana and Te Awanga their numbers appear to have depleted considerably in recent years through the actions of domestic cats.

Bountiful Birdlife

Between the well protected wetlands and lagoon alongside the Tukituki

river inlets and the lagoons and wetlands of Haumoana you will find

scores of black swans, pied stilts, bittern, godwits and a dozen or more

white royal spoonbill herons. The spoonbills fly south to roost and nest

in the treetops of Okarito in the west coast of the South Island in the

winter and return each year. Apart from the growing number of tui and

woodpigeons are shags, grey herons, little egrets, bitterns, paradise,

mallard and grey ducks, pukeko, black backed gulls, red billed gulls,

white headed pied stilts, white fronted terns, kingfishers and welcome

swallows. There are also families of ducks and geese who have made

their home in the main lagoon and even have their own sign warning

motorists to slow down in case they’re trying to cross the road.

There’s ongoing concern among locals that some of the nesting areas for this diverse range of birdlife are disturbed by people walking their dogs without leashes and the careless use of trail bikes and quadbikes on the gravelly perimeter of the lagoon and wetland, particularly at breeding time. The 2017 Hastings District Council Cape Coast Reserves Plan began a major ongoing replanting and beatification project across the area which has gradually been transforming the Cape Coast