About | Cape Kidnappers (with Gannet Beach Adventures)
Cape Kidnappers is a fascinating area where you can marvel at towering cliffs, enjoy the sea and sand and right at the end is the biggest mainland gannet colony in the world with up to 20,000 gannets, spread over four colonies.
They start arriving at Cape Kidnappers in July to begin their courtship and make their nest, lay their eggs and incubate them until the chicks hatch from early November.
From then their parents will take turns looking after them and hunting for food until four months later, the young gannets are ready to fly off on their own as they migrate to Australia. Numbers dwindle from late March to April, with a few staying and roosting for winter.
To reach Cape Kidnappers, you can walk or take a guided tour (with Gannet Beach Adventures). It’s a big 5-hour return walk and you’ll need to make sure you time it right.
Otherwise, jump on the back of a vintage red tractor and enjoy the ride while still taking it all in. The tractor ride takes you along Clifton Beach and ends at Cape Kidnappers with several geological stops along the way. The tour guide is great at imparting their knowledge about the place so that even total newbies can learn exactly what they’re looking at.
Before reaching the end of the ride, you’ll pass and stop at the Black Reef Colony, the first of two colonies that you can visit, nestled right along the beach – you won’t even need to hop off.
Reaching the end of the beach, you’ll only need to walk 20 minutes to get to the Plateau Colony. It’s an uphill walk but well worth it. You’ll have 90 minutes to enjoy the sights, see the birds and stop in at the rest stop for some refreshments.
If you don’t think you can make it up the hill, the rest stop is only 5 minutes from the beach and you’ll find picnic tables, toilets and information boards about the area and gannets. There are no rubbish bins here – take rubbish with you.
There are a total of four colonies at Cape Kidnappers, two of which you can visit and the other two, the Saddle and Whalebone colonies, can be seen along the clifftops from the top of the hill at Plateau colony (though are not accessible to the public).
Toilets: before you leave on your tour you can find some near the ticket office, and at Cape Kidnappers behind the rest shelter.
The Gannets
Cape Kidnappers is a spectacular destination to come for its incredible geology, remarkable and rugged coastal views and bird watching opportunities.
Gannets have been nesting at Cape Kidnappers since the 1870s and have been slowly growing in number, making it now the largest on the mainland in New Zealand and the world.
There are four colonies at Cape Kidnappers, with an estimated 4,000 living on the Plateau Colony, 4,700 at the Saddle Colony which can be seen below the lighthouse and 3,500 at both the Black Reef Colony and Whalebone Reef Colony.
Come and witness them for yourself, watch as they court, protect their nesting area, incubate their egg, and see the chicks grow all the way up until they are ready to set off on their own following their natural instinct.
Geology
As you travel along the beach many geological stops are made as the tour guide pinpoints the areas of interest. By sharing their knowledge it allows you to appreciate the grandeur of the place and makes you see just how majestic and fascinating the cliffs are.
Tour guides tell the stories that the different layers of sedimentary material running across the cliff tell like chapters in a book and point out the ancient earthquake fault lines where the cliff has moved in different directions.
Spot fossils in the cliff face and see gullies that have been formed by the wind and rain. It’s a truly captivating experience and you don’t have to be a geologist to appreciate it. In fact, it can be an enlightening experience for amateurs and may spark an interest in young and old people’s minds alike.
These cliffs go all the way back from 300,000 years at Clifton and a whopping 4.5 million years at the Cape.
How Cape Kidnappers got its name
When Captain James Cook, an English explorer, came here in 1969 on his voyage around New Zealand, local Maori traders paddled a canoe out to their ship.
Seeing a young Tahitian cabin boy on the ship and thinking he was someone from their tribe being held against his will, they kidnapped him. Upon paddling away, Cook’s men fired on them.
In the midst of the chaos, the Tahitian boy jumped out and swam back to the ship. James Cook, therefore, called the cape, Cape Kidnappers after the incident.
When are the gannets at Cape Kidnappers?
Gannets start arriving at Cape Kidnappers in July. Walks/guided tours along the beach need to leave 2 hours before low tide.
Gannet Beach Adventures guided tours operate from late September/early October to late April; departure times vary daily due to tides.
The gannets then migrate to Australian waters for warmer climates.
What to pack for your tour
Tours with Gannet Beach Adventures depart with the day’s low tide so the times that they go will vary, from early in the morning to late in the arvo. Dress for the weather and then pack an extra layer for when/if it gets colder.
Even though you’re going for a ride along the beach, the tractor doesn’t move fast. Check the weather forecast to see what you can expect. Tours run whatever the weather, come prepared.
- warm clothing (and wet weather gear if necessary)
- hat and sunscreen
- snacks and water
- walking shoes
- togs and towel (optional: if you plan on swimming)
On the day we went, our tour left at 7 in the morning and it was at the end of April (the middle of autumn). Mornings were cold but could warm up quite quickly. The weather forecast showed it was going to be a nice sunny day. We started out in warm jumpers and pants and slowly stripped them away as the day got warmer. We also brought shorts along which we changed into for the walk which was very much appreciated because the day had warmed up fast and we worked up a bit of a sweat!
Check the forecast before you go.
Who is the guided tour suitable for?
Great news! This tour is suitable for all, young and old and of all fitness levels, though to walk up to the Plateau colony will need a moderate level of fitness.
You don’t even have to leave your seat and can just view the Black Reef colony along the way (the shorter Black Reef tour is perfect for this), bring munchies if doing the full tour as they take a 90-minute break.
If you have small children you can sit at the back of the trailer instead of along the sides. Personally, I enjoyed this spot because you can enjoy both views instead of facing one side – beach or cliff. But the kids loved sitting on the edge and dangling their feet over the sides.
Will we get wet from the ocean?
We actually didn’t get wet at all. Staying dry isn’t guaranteed though and it is recommended that you bring a dry bag for any electronics and valuables that you may bring with you. Watch the waves and be ready to lift those legs up for the big ones!
How long is it?
Walking: 5 hours return
Gannet Beach Adventures tours: 4 hours or 2.5 – 3 hours for the shorter Black Reef Tour that they do when light is running out at the end of the day.
Nearby
Te Mata Peak
Waitangi Regional Park
Location
Near the end of Clifton Road, before the Clifton Motor Camp. Gannet Beach Adventures is only a few meters away (at 475 Clifton Road), opposite Hygge at Clifton Bay Café.
Photos
The boys were woken early in the morning and still wrapped up in their blankets they slowly made their way to the car where they snuggled up quietly and munched on their morning toast. We were going on an early morning adventure today, an adventure that needed to be timed perfectly with the tides. We drove through the dark streets, only passing a few other cars on the road on an early Saturday morning and when we reached our destination, the sun was just making an appearance.
Upon arriving early we had time to finish off the remainder of our toast, stuffed our backpacks with water and snacks and put our shoes on. We soon saw our ride coming down the road so after grabbing our tickets, we hopped on at the back of the tractor-trailer where the tour guide then welcomed us and gave us a short safety brief before the tractor started moving and we were on our way.
We headed straight onto the beach where the waves were sweeping straight on through just below us. Good thing that the trailers are quite high up, but still, we all lifted up our legs from the rails, not wanting to get wet this early in the morning. You have to watch for the waves because if you don’t it can easily catch you out and leave you wet and soggy.
After enjoying the playful waves, I chose to turn in the other direction and marvel at the towering cliffs. The tour guide stopped many times at different parts to fill us in on what exactly we were looking at. It was all very interesting and we found that we learnt so much being out there and actually getting to see it all with our own eyes.
The tour guide pointed out tree roots which we found at the very bottom of the cliff, parts that was once a beach, evident by the seashells found in them. And parts that were once mud ponds, or forests. Moving our eyes across the cliff, we could see the very evident lines running right along the cliff edge right before us.
Continuing on, we found many faultlines, some moving the cliff up a whole ten meters. We could match the lines to where they once would have been.
Cape Kidnappers has four colonies, two of which we can visit. One was high up on the cliff and the other was right here on the beach, called the Black Reef colony.
Reaching the end of the beach, it is here that we stop for a good 90 minutes. We walk to the rest shelter, which is just a quick 5-minute walk away. We stop to refuel, read up about the place and take in the wonderful views of the beach below and the surrounding area.
There are picnic tables, toilets and great views to be enjoyed.
Wanting to see the gannets, we pried our eyes from the wonderful view and instead set our sight on the hill we had to conquer. We worked our way up the hill, stripping off layers of clothing as the temperature was now a lot different to what it had been at the start of the tour. We enjoyed the stunning views over the majestic cliffs and ocean below.
The walk zig-zagged its way to the top of the hill, it was hard but short and everyone was eager to see the gannets so kept on.
Upon arriving, we gazed at the nesting sight and the last of the gannets that were yet to set flight. Though we came right at the end of the season, it was wonderful to be there, just a few meters away from these amazing birds and seeing the young interact with their mum or dad.
The young were now not so little as they were just a few months ago and had now grown bigger than their average adult size, putting on lots of fat to help them along on their first big flight to Australia. We could easily pick them apart from the adults by their grey down.
We stood and just watched them for a while, taking in how they interacted with one another and their behaviours. It’s not every day that you get to experience birds so close. We were very captivated by how the adults would feed their young by putting their beaks right into the others.
After taking it all in we slowly made our way back down to the beach where the tractor was still sitting and found we still had time to spare so you’ve got heaps of time to spend up there, and I’m sure you’d want to spend a lot more time up there during the peak of the season. The boys explored the rocks and played games on the beach with some of the other kids there.
Our tractor ride was filled with all sorts of surprises and in itself was well worth doing the tour.
- The tractor got stuck. And so we watched how to get it out again.
- We stopped and picked up whatever rubbish we found along the beach. The tractor would stop, the tour guide would yell out to the kids and the kids would all race to try and be the first one to grab it.
- We took a souvenir home. At one of our stops along the beach, the tour guide brought out his axe and tearing off some of the material from a rock, showing, explaining and handing it around for everyone to feel. Of course, in weeks this will crumble up but it was something that the kids could take and show people at home a little of what they had learned.
- One side of the trailer unexpectedly went down into a deep hole, making for a very fun ride.
When we finished our tour we went back to the beach where the kids played joyfully with the incoming waves as they crashed in and hit the rocks. It was quite crazy to think we had just driven through that! These tractors are pretty cool!
All in all, we left very happy to have done this tour with Gannet Beach Adventures. We found that we learnt so much as we rode past those majestic cliffs and experiencing it first hand made it so much more impressionable and fun for the kids. You don’t have to be a geologist to enjoy it, it’s all spoken about in very simple terms that even the kids can understand, learn and appreciate. Be curious and ask questions, the tour guides are very knowledgeable in this area! The tractor ride was just plain old good fun. The tour guide was super friendly, fun and interesting. And getting to see gannets mere meters away and in their natural habitat is fascinating. Come during September – February to see up to 20,000 of them – what a spectacle that must be!
