Cooks Cove Walkway

Cooks Cove Walkway

Cooks Cove Walkway

19 Rankers Reviews

14 Face-to-Face

2 Tolaga Bay

Your Nature Guide

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Marios Gavalas

Author And Researcher

Nau mai, haere mai

Nau mai, haere mai

I'm Marios, delivering the best of Aotearoa's nature walks to your device.

I've personally walked hundreds of New Zealand's tracks and spent months in libraries uncovering interesting information on New Zealand/Aotearoa. And you'll find a slice of that research on this page - enjoy!

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Photos

Viewpoint on the way to Cooks Cove
looking out over the walk
Looking down on Tolaga bay wharf

Information

Cooks Cove Walkway

5.8 km return | 2 hours 30 minutes return

It’s all about Captain Cook here. After Endeavour departed, Cook felt that some form of connection had been made with the ‘natives’ and gave him more optimism that future encounters might be civil.

If you have time it's well worth exploring the rocky coastline around the corner of the cove.

Walking Track

Timing

The walkway is close for lambing from 1st August to start of Labour Weekend. No dogs are permitted.

Access

From Tolaga Bay, cross the bridge over the Uawa River and turn left into Wharf Road. This leads to a grassed parking area on the right.

The nearest public toilets are 300 metres further on at the wharf.

Track

The track is well-formed and climbs through a tea-tree canopy before crossing a stile. Follow the marker posts over open farmland, cross another stile and continue to the wooden lookout (25 minutes).

The views from the 125 metres above sea level lookout take in the splendour of the small bay.

The track then descends through the low canopy of kanuka via a winding track with steps, before reaching the flats behind Cooks Cove, where there are toilets.

Once you’ve crossed the stile, turn left to the hole in the wall (5 minutes) or right to the monument (15 minutes). Or continue to Cooks Cove and its northern headland (from the end of which you can glimpse the Mitre Rocks).

European History

Endeavour anchored here between 23rd and 29th October 1769 and because the week was so refreshing and successful, Captain Cook’s name lingers in its European title. Previous encounters with Maori at Anaura Bay had led Cook to believe water and wood could be easily collected. Local fishermen often sheltered behind Mitre Rocks (so named because they resembled a bishop’s mitre) hidden from the easterly swell that often pounded the shores.

Cook was keen to establish some form of contact with Maori, as before departing England, Cook’s instructions from the Admiralty had been supplemented by James Douglas, president of the Royal Society. The enlightening advice included hints on the best methods for establishing trusting relationships with native peoples. These included patience, minimal use of firearms and the avoidance of bloodshed. He urged Cook to remember the ‘natives’ had the right to occupy their country and that defence of it would be likely by whatever weaponry they possessed. Indigenous peoples should be treated with “distinguished humanity”, he warned.

Earlier on the voyage, the natives of Tierra del Fuego and Tahiti had been friendly, in part because they were already aware of European’s superior weaponry. However the Maori were a fearsome and proud people, uninitiated to the devastating power of firearms, and prepared to defend their territory to the death with any weaponry at their disposal. Forging close relations was not proving to be easy. Cook’s previous encounters with the ‘natives’ in Poverty Bay had been less than cordial, although the meetings at Tolaga Bay and Anaura Bay had been more civil. Moreover the Admiralty’s instructions had explicitly stated that any territorial claim was to be made only with ‘consent of the Natives’.

At high tide on Tuesday 24th, the crew came ashore for water and wood. Trading took place with fish being exchanged for cloth, beads and nails. Cook’s men were able to load 12 tons of fresh water and 3 boatloads of wood.

On 25th October Cook made various astronomical observations of the sun and moon to determine his latitude and longitude. His armourer set up set up a forge to repair the tiller braces and Cook’s men dug a well to cool the iron worker’s forge. It remained for over 100 years after Cook’s visit and was named Te Wai Keri a Tepaea, and by later visitors as ‘Cook’s Well’.

Banks and Solander collected plant specimens and conducted a series of botanical experiments, including the boiling of manuka to make tea (tea-tree). A ti kouka was felled and the cabbage-like head apparently ‘ate well boiled’. Hence the ‘Cabbage tree’ received it’s European name. Bunches of scurvy grass were collected to aid the crew’s health.

Nearby Pourewa Island was also explored by Banks and Spöring, who examined the prow and stern of a war canoe. They were equally impressed with the carving on a large house.

On another trip Banks described ‘a most noble arch or cavern through the face of the rock’. Today there are still views of Tolaga Bay through the opening. Strata of sandstone glow in the sun and the amplified sounds of the breakers echo through the cavern. To Maori this hole in the wall was known as Te Kotere-o-te-Whenua and was used as a shortcut to commute between the two bays.

Details

Feature Value Info

Organisation

DOC East Coast

Central government organisation

Location

North IslandTairāwhiti GisborneTolaga Bay

Categories

  • Activity__walking_and_trekkingWalking
  • Free

Directions

To Coordinates

Coordinates

-38.3848122662445

178.317811393738

Latitude
-38.3848122662445
Longitude
178.317811393738

Nearby

Reviews

    • Nice walk with lots of sheep.
    • Great views, easy to walk.
    • Nice lookouts.
    • Great walk, brilliant views.
    • Very beautiful walk.
    Rating Count Percentage
    10/10 5
    26%
    9/10 8
    42%
    8/10 5
    26%
    7/10 1
    5%
    6/10 0
    0%
    5/10 0
    0%
    4/10 0
    0%
    3/10 0
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    2/10 0
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    1/10 0
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  • 4.5/5

    Nice walk in the bush you’ll meet sheeps and cows before reaching the cove.

    Don’t forget to stop by the Hole in the Wall and pack extra water on a warm day.

    Reviewed about 4 years ago

  • 4.5/5

    Nice walk with lots of sheep.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in November 2016

    GERMANY
    Kat's avatar

    Kat

  • 4.0/5

    Nice hiking track to Cook's Cove, few people, not a heavy walk.

    Reviewed about 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Very beautiful walk.

    Quiet place.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 4.0/5

    Great views, easy to walk.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Beautiful walk of two hours to Cooks Bay through forest, cows and sheep herds.

    Amazing scenery and easy track even on a sunny weekend. Not too crowded.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016

  • 4.5/5

    Very cool afternoon walk through nice hills, cliffs, native bush.

    'A bay in the bay'.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Beautiful walkway over the hills through sheep and cows.

    Not so many people. Stunning lookout over the sea, well groomed track.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

  • 4.5/5

    Very nice walk - great lookout!

    Little hills, beautiful forest and the hole in the rock..... and the water at the bay is perfect for swimming. We have been there completely naked - no one there!

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

  • 4.5/5

    Beautiful walk leads to a beautiful 'Hole in the Wall' and finally to Cook's Cove beach.

    Nice farmland with sheep around.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago

  • 5.0/5

    Beautiful track!

    Reviewed over 9 years ago

  • 4.5/5

    Nice walk in the bush you’ll meet sheeps and cows before reaching the cove.

    Don’t forget to stop by the Hole in the Wall and pack extra water on a warm day.

    Reviewed about 4 years ago

  • 4.5/5

    Nice walk with lots of sheep.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in November 2016

    GERMANY
    Kat's avatar

    Kat

  • 4.0/5

    Nice hiking track to Cook's Cove, few people, not a heavy walk.

    Reviewed about 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Very beautiful walk.

    Quiet place.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Beautiful walkway over the hills through sheep and cows.

    Not so many people. Stunning lookout over the sea, well groomed track.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

  • 4.0/5

    Great views, easy to walk.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016

  • 5.0/5

    Beautiful walk of two hours to Cooks Bay through forest, cows and sheep herds.

    Amazing scenery and easy track even on a sunny weekend. Not too crowded.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016

  • 4.5/5

    Very cool afternoon walk through nice hills, cliffs, native bush.

    'A bay in the bay'.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016

  • 4.5/5

    Very nice walk - great lookout!

    Little hills, beautiful forest and the hole in the rock..... and the water at the bay is perfect for swimming. We have been there completely naked - no one there!

    Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016

  • 4.5/5

    Beautiful walk leads to a beautiful 'Hole in the Wall' and finally to Cook's Cove beach.

    Nice farmland with sheep around.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago

  • 5.0/5

    Beautiful track!

    Reviewed over 9 years ago

  • 4.0/5

    Beautiful lookout points and a feeling like in the past when James Cook arrived.

    Reviewed over 9 years ago and experienced in January 2015

  • 3.5/5

    Nice lookouts.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago

  • 4.0/5

    Not so easy to walk but we made it.

    Beautiful scenery.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago

  • 5.0/5

    Fantastic views when you get to the top viewpoint and even better ones when you get to the bottom and climb the hill.

    We could have stayed there all day with the 360 degree panoramic views we had up there. Absolutely awesome!!

    Reviewed over 11 years ago and experienced in June 2013

  • 4.5/5

    Walk through private land and forest to reach the cove, very beautiful!

    Reviewed over 11 years ago

  • 4.0/5

    A nice stroll with good vantage points about half way through the walk.

    The Cove itself is nice and it's worthwhile taking the time to explore the rocky coastline and the hole in the wall.

    Reviewed about 13 years ago

  • 4.5/5

    Great walk, brilliant views.

    Hole in the wall well worth going to see also.

    Reviewed almost 14 years ago