Clifton is a coastal beach reserve motor camp in
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. It is located eighteen kilometres southeast of the city centre of
Napier and eight kilometres west of the tip of
Cape Kidnappers. Clifton marks the start of the walk or ride around to the Cape Kidnappers gannet colony.
Located at Clifton is a beach reserve motor camp, a shop, a popular cafe, restaurant and bar, camping facilities, and a car park from which most visitors to
Cape Kidnappers depart from. Clifton is located on Conservation Land, with the reserve being created to preserve the environment around the Cape Kidnappers for the large
gannet colonies, which is a huge tourist attraction. Activities which are common include swimming, boating, sailing, kayaking and surfing.
Clifton is located at 39°S 177°E on
Hawke Bay
Hawke Bay (), formerly named ''Hawke's Bay'', is a large bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, surrounded by the Hawke's Bay region. It stretches from Māhia Peninsula in the northeast to Cape Kidnappers / Te Kauwae-a-Mā ...
on the
east coast of New Zealand. The land almost immediately behind the beach is hilly and covered with trees. Clifton is located between the hilly terrain and the beach on a narrow strip of flat land. The road which leads towards
Cape Kidnappers, Clifton Road, terminates as a car park at the southern end of Clifton and is the departure point for most people visiting the Cape. It is an eight-kilometre walk along the coast from Clifton to the Cape.
As Clifton is located near the sea in an area which is highly prone to
coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...
, it is facing severe problems with the erosion. The Clifton shoreline is constantly being cut away by stormy seas and high ocean tides. Land at Clifton is precious as there is very little of it between the sea and the high terrain. The long term shoreline retreat at Clifton Beach is on average 0.75m per year, higher than coastal erosion rates at
Te Awanga and
Haumoana further north along the
Bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
coastline.
References
External links
Hawke's Bay Tourism
{{coord, -39.641, 176.993, display=title
Hastings District
Beaches of Hawke's Bay
Populated places in Hawke's Bay
Populated places around Hawke Bay