Hundreds of Hawke's Bay couples have lost their homes, after several metres of Cape Kidnappers Te Kauwae-a-Maui gannet nesting slipped into the sea in a storm earlier this month.
The slip was noticed by Gannet Safaris Overlander driver and guide David Grace a fortnight ago, after the three-day storm which brought rainfall of well over 100mm to parts of Hawke's Bay.
He estimates about "20 feet" has fallen from the southern side of the Saddle Colony, at the eastern extremity of the cape, destroying its most unique feature — a plateau that enabled the gannets to take-off to the south as well as to the north, depending on the prevailing conditions.
Ironically, as Hawke's Bay Today arrived to photograph the damage the fog moved in and obliterated even what remains of the site, while an estimated 6000-8000 of the Australasian gannets, some trailing strings of seaweed dragged from the sea below, arrived and settled into the nearby Plateau colony for the mating and nesting season, and the thousands of visitors expected over the summer.
The Department of Conservation was unable to comment late yesterday, and the impact of losing some of the real estate was not clear.