On Cook's Trail

James Cook visited New Zealand three times, although twice only briefly. His early contacts with Maori didn't merely establish Britain's colonial credentials, they set the tone for future race relations between two different cultures. This is not a definitive, blow-by-blow account of all Cook's meetings and landings, but an edited highlight - a holiday history - of his tour of the North and South islands summarising the reasons why Cook was sent to this faraway land, what he discovered when he arrived and the interactions with people he encountered including the major historical personalities such as Banks, Tupaia and Solander. Structured by region, the Cook's tour begins in Poverty Bay before heading around to cover Hawke's Bay, Cape Kidnappers, Anaura Bay, Tolaga Bay, Thames, the Bay of Plenty, Mercury Bay, the Bay of Islands, Doubtless Bay, North Cape, Taranaki/Mt Egmont, Cape Palliser, Cape Turnagain, Kaikoura, Banks Island, Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook Strait, Dusky Bay and Stephens Island and more.
Each chapter includes a 'Cook's Trail' section detailing the noted landmarks, monuments and memorials, historic pa, museums and info centres, hill-tops, coves, beaches and local opportunities for hikes or cruises by boat.