The first episode looks at Cook’s first encounters with local Māori, on the east coast of the North Island. Some greeted Cook with pōwhiri; others took exception to the murder and kidnapping the Europeans brought despite their declarations of peace. Meanwhile in the third clip Elliott learns all about the P Class New casinos New Zealand Yacht, and meets a young Tauranga sailor with blonde hair who bears a distinct resemblance to future America’s Cup skipper Peter Burling. On the morning of 24th November,1769 the Endeavour sailed north rounding present day Waiheke Island and heading further north towards Northland. He did not explore any more of the Hauraki Gulf probably because it would have been extremely difficult to establish from off the coast just where the safe passages were, especially those shielded by islands.

• Local Maori gazed at this strange ship and the white people who came to shore.
• This had been witnessed before on at least six previous occasions beginning in 1631.
• After gold was discovered in that bay in the 19th century, it was renamed Golden Bay.

The Europeans were also interested in Maori items such as weapons and clothing and in turn Maori quickly saw the possibilities of items such as nails and woven cloth.

Wellington ED went into code red 575 times in 304 days

Captain James Cook, a prominent British navigator, was the first European to explore and map the coastline of New Zealand from 1769 onwards. Local Maori thought Cook and men were ‘goblins’ who could remove their skin (clothes) and scalp (hats) and who must have eyes in the back of their heads as they rowed backwards. Trade seems to have centred around food such as the excellent lobsters described by Joseph Banks the wealthy botanist on board, large quantities of fresh fish which the seamen no doubt enjoyed and any surplus was salted down.

So far the coast had offered few opportunities as no suitable harbour or safe anchorage had presented itself. He had to find a safe place and a fine sunny day for the observations. These stamps were issued to commemorate the bi-centenary of Captain Cook’s first voyage to New Zealand. In 1769, Captain James Cook sailed from England for Tahiti on board the ‘Endeavour’ to observe for the Royal Society the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the sun. He then went on to make the first recorded landing by Europeans in New Zealand at what is now Gisborne, in Poverty Bay. The leader of the scientific party was Sir Joseph Banks and Dr David Solander was the botanist.

This is the Purangi River named by Cook as ‘Oyster River’ because of the good quality oysters that they enjoyed from here. The Purangi inlet can be found at the far eastern end of Cook’s beach. Cook named other prominent geographical features in the area including The Alderman Islands, Tower Rock, Shakespeare Cliff and of course Mercury Bay itself. The Mercury Bay museum at Whitanga today contains many interesting displays relating to Cook’s 12 day visit to the area. This had been witnessed before on at least six previous occasions beginning in 1631.

Willow Macky: The Ballad of Captain Cook – hardcopy HANDWRITTEN SCORE

Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand in 1769 in this bay on the east coast of the North Island. Of course, he wanted fresh food and water for his crew after a long voyage from Tahiti. England was at that time facing a shortage of timber for ships’ masts and spars and he was looking at the trees in that regard. Luckily he didn’t know that timber of the native kahikatea Podocarpus dacrydioides was unsuitable for such a purpose the timber being too light and soft.

On the morning of the 22nd they caught the outgoing tidal current and arrived back at the ship. This was the longest time that James Cook spent away from the Endeavour in the entire first voyage and indicates the importance he placed on the area and the potential that he saw in it. He goes on to say that there were other species of trees entirely new to them.