20 kilometers south east of Napier in the Hawke's bay region of the eastern shore of the North island of New Zealand sits Cape Kidnappers, there on the cliff tops rests a colony full of beautiful and elegant birds called Gannets.

To get to the Gannet colony we drove to a town called Clifton, there you can get to the shore that leads to the colony.
The walk to the colony is next to white cliffs made of rocks and sand, these cliffs can collapse at any minute with no previous warning!

All along the walk we had to go in between the cliffs, constantly hearing rocks and pebbles sliding down the cliff, and on the other side of us we could hear the pacific ocean and waves crushing on the sand, you might think it's a relaxing sound but to walk on the shore we had to time the walk with the tides, start when the tide is going out and finish when it's coming in, that gives you a window of approximately 5 hours, because at some point the tide is so high that the waves crush on the cliffs.
So the sound of the waves crushing next to you pushing you away from the sea and onto the cliffs and the sound of the upcoming landslide pushing you into the ocean make the whole experience of walking there pretty eerie.

We got Awe struck once we got to the colony, the walk to the colony is pretty monotonous and I might say boring, but, Wow! seeing the Gannets flying around and nesting on the cliffs is just amazing.
Being so close to these wild animals seeing them work and interact is just so special.
After seeing them and hearing them so close it makes you feel so much closer to nature.
Being there as if it's just you and the birds, not bothering one another (except the occasional bird coming to land right over your head), seeing the helpless little chicks being guarded by one of the parents, seeing how complex they are and smart.
It's truly a unique experience that I highly recommend.

The Gannet is a really special bird, it flies over the ocean looking for schools of fish, once it finds them it dives really fast into the water catching the fish and getting it out of the water, to do so it's body's built in a slick streamlined fashion and it's eyes have a protective extra layer so they don't burst from the impact of the water, the eyes are also pointing forward so the gannet can fly to the target without losing it.
These gannets are Australasian gannets and they nest in several locations in New Zealand, after the chick is hatched and reaches maturity it takes flight and spends 3 years over the shores of Australia, then it comes back to its birthplace looking for a mate, once it finds a mate they will mate for life (unless the mate doesn't show up), they will try to build a nest and raise a chick and will most probably fail, why? because raising a chick for the first time in a gannet colony is not that simple, the nests have to be spaced apart exactly the right distance apart, Gannets are really territorial and they fight when there is an intruder, they also steal from other nests to improve their own, and after all this hassle the new couple needs to find food for the little chick, so to get it all right the first time is pretty unlikely but don't worry, they will keep trying every year until they succeed.
Cape Kidnappers is named after a Maori attempt to kidnap one of Captain cook's crew members off the ship