April 22, 2025 - Rosewood Cape Kidnappers
We had a big breakfast knowing we would be traveling in the car for 4 ½ to 5 hours on our way north to Hawks Bay.
We had a brief tour of the lodge, the lounge, library and the dining room before heading to our suite, a separate building with fantastic views of the bay.
We relaxed for a while before heading back to the lodge for cocktails and another fabulous dinner.
April 22, 2025 - A tour of the farm
After breakfast we met Johnny, who took us in an all-terrain vehicle around the 6,000-acre property. It reminded me of the off-road trip we did in Lindis a few weeks ago. The farm is situated along the coast with deep valleys and high plateaus.
We stopped at an area overlooking the bay. Here is a nesting place for the large beautiful Gannet Sea bird. They come here every year to nest. The pairs mate for life and lay one single egg. Once hatched the nestling is fed by both the mother and father until it is about 3 months old. It then will jump off the cliff and fly to Australia, where it will stay for about 2 years before returning to nest and start the cycle all over.
From this vantage point we could see the actual “Cap Kidnappers” that gave the area the name. The story is that when Captain Cook, who “discovered” New Zealand, was sailing from Tahiti, a young Tahitian jumped abord his ship and was taken on as a cabin boy. When they reached New Zealand, the local Māori tribes heard there was a Tahitian boy on board and thinking he was being held against his will, they rowed out and took the boy to land, where upon he quickly got away and swam back to Cook’s ship. Hence it is passed down that the Māori “kidnapped” the boy and the cape was so named.
Leaving the beach we next went through an area that is being left to regenerate to its native state. Here, as in Zealandia, they have built a fence to keep out the non-indigenous vermin. There are traps set out to catch and remove them.
