Cape Kidnappers - The Gannets

At Cape Kidnappers there is a huge colony of Gannets (approx 20,000)living there. You can get close to the Gannets by either going on an 'overland trip' or as we did via the Beach on the Gannet Beach Adventures via tractor and trailer.



The trip along the beach was entertaining and informative as our guide pointed out various geological features as well as letting the trailer catch the odd wave!



The first picture above shows the erosion from the rain water falling from the clif top. The second picture shows a shift in the layers of the earth following an earth quake many many years ago (I forgot how many 1000's!). The last picture shows where a waterfall runs in the winter and the way the surrounding rock face has been erroded by the water as it is blown around.

It took about 1.5 hours to reach the Gannets. Once the tractors had parked up we were able to either stay at the beach or head up a track to view more of them. Not sure if this is mother or father and baby!





More Gannets....



We opted to stay at the beach.



View from the DoC Hut (department of conservation)looking back to the beach where we stopped...



End of the day, looking back to where we'd been...