Jan. 24 - Gisborne, baby!

Jan. 25, 2009
Gisborne

This place is dangerous........dangerously perfect, that is. Up to this point, I've been saying that I would live in NZ if the weather was better.

Enter Gisborne, a remote, 30,000 town on the East Cape that has a Mediterranean climate that feels like San Diego. (When they talk about climate in NZ, they always show data for Auckland, Welly, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown...but those cities all have the same rain issues.) This place is sufficiently "out there" -- at least 3 hours from any community of consequence -- that it's off the main tourist track. And it shows: its funkier here, a little more edgy.

"Gizzy" is like a Santa Cruz with San Diego's climate, and Cabo San Lucas' isolation. There are palm trees everywhere, and all the stores have open-air fronts. It's a tropical vibe, but with low humidity and clear skies. It's also the only place in NZ that has seen a growth in tourism (3+% over the past year) and the current campaign is "Gisborne: The Endless Summer." The water is a perfet 68 degrees....Adios, wetsuit.

There's a lot of Maori here, which adds some much-needed flavor. I must say that the Maori are very good-looking people. The men are well-built and handsome, and the women are suprisingly fit. (in fact, they are often more attractive than the English-descended kiwi ladies, which I'm sure has been the source of more than one kiwi's problems...) They have really nice skin (tattoo'd extensively) and almost noble features.

Oh yeah, did I mention there are several word-class surf breaks here, ranging from long, easy right-hand points to sucking beachbreak barrels to a legendary, firring left/right around a sacred Maori island that can be walked out to at low tide?

And if that wasn't enough, there areb heaps of girls running around in bikinis. I guess this is the place you move to if you are a kiwi looking for the beach life.

Hold my calls, please.