Welcome to Gisborne, the first city in the world to see the sun each day, is located on the sunny East Coast of the North Island. The Maori name for the district is Tairawhiti which means "The coast upon which the sunshines across the water".

 

Kaiti Beach, near the city, was where the Maori immigrational waka, Horouta, landed. It is also the first European landing place in New Zealand; Captain Cook sailed into Poverty Bay in 1769 and came ashore near the mouth of the Turanganui River.