There's more to Gisborne than sea elephant Homer

By COLIN MOORE

The country can be forgiven if it imagines that the only event in Gisborne of note recently has been the Bottrill inquiry. Fortunately, the first city in the world to see the sun each day has been host to more pleasant news, too.

There was, of course, the visit by Homer the sea elephant, who drew coachloads of camera-clicking tourists.

But it is across the road from the boat ramp where the marine giant has taken residence and demolished the odd rubbish bin that the burghers who are questioning the city's millennium-party spending might find one answer.

There, the last remnant of the old freezing works has been scraped and cleaned and refurbished as a modern and sophisticated wine and cheese bar that would not be out of place in the downtown redevelopments of any major city in the world.

Undoubtedly the impetus for The Works cafe came from the millennium brouhaha, but it should continue to survive very nicely on its wine and cheese tastings of Eastland's finest along with its restaurant fare.

It may even be why Homer has settled in at the ramp across the road.

Smash Palace Wine Bar predates the millennium shindig but it remains a distinctive tavern and it is somewhat surprising that no one else has tried to copy the concept. After all, it's not every industrial estate that includes among its fairly grotty buildings one that looks like a car wrecker's yard but is actually a hugely popular bar.

Crashed into the roof is an old DC3 and festooning the walls of the bar is an eye boggling collection of mechanical junk. The bar seats are old metal tractor seats but the fare is much more modern.

We had antipasto and spicy nachos with sour cream with our drinks and devoured them with enthusiasm.

The reason for the family visit to the capital of Eastland was Gisborne's oldest tourist attraction - its famed surf beaches, the venue this year for the annual scholastic surf championships.

The four-day event draws the best student surfers and bodyboarders from throughout New Zealand competing in regional teams following regional competitions.

They came from as far away as Kaitaia and Otago and ranged from grommets, those under 14 years, to under-19-year-old girls - the cream of the country's young people and about a million kilometres from the tragedy of the Bottrill inquiry.

Several of the top riders, already enjoying commercial sponsorship, will represent their country overseas.

A southerly storm two days before the competition stirred up the sea and left a trail of debris on Waikanae Beach in the centre of Gisborne. The competition beaches of Wainui and Makorori further north were largely unaffected and by the end of the week the sands of Waikanae had been raked clean.

We stayed in a tourist flat at the Waikanae Beach Holiday Park - $52 a night for a couple and $11 for each additional person - from where you could hear the sound of the surf.

Just 100m or so up the road is the Gisborne visitor information centre, which has to be one of the best-equipped in the country and always seemed to have a small flock of overseas backpackers or cyclists outside it.

The centre stocks a brochure which details all the best surf breaks north and south of the city so while we waited for the surfing to start we headed south to the Mahia Peninsula where the southerly would provide an offshore wind on the northern beaches.

There was another reason for heading to Mahia - the centenary of the Mahia Hunt, one of the oldest in New Zealand. While the surfers went chasing barrel waves we went to say hello to a group of rural folk who mostly love horses both as working farm animals and a source of recreation.

There is a tourism spin-off here too because some of these gregarious farmers open their homes to farm stays or bed and breakfast or, in the case of Ray and Leslie Thompson, of Tuanaui Station, into a cosy and comfortable lodge.

East Coast-bred horses have a fine reputation among the equine set and at Waimoana Horse Trekking at Wainui Beach you can get to ride some of the best examples. Digby Fraser of Waimoana Station sits a horse better than John Wayne.

No visit to Gisborne would be complete without a wine tour. I had to stick to my duty on the beach and watch the student surfing - but I intend to have my share of the wine-tour spoils that the surfing son's mother returned with.

For more information on Gisborne attractions contact Tourism Eastland, ph (06) 867 2000, fax (06) 868 1368, e-mail info@eastland.co.nz; Web sites Eastland tourism. Waikanae Beach Holiday Park, ph (06) 867 5364, fax (06) 867 9765; Tuanui Station Cottages, ph (06) 837 5790, e-mail tunanui@xtra.co.nz; Smash Palace Wine Bar, ph (06) 867 7769; The Works ph (06) 863 1285; Waimoana Horse Trekking, ph (06) 868 8218.