Access to one of the most popular New Year's Day sunrise spots in the East Cape has been blocked to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The East Coast Lighthouse northeast of Gisborne is ordinarily a popular spot to watch the first sunrise of the New Year. Photo: 123RF
The Kohere whānau, which owns the land that gives access to the East Cape Lighthouse, has decided to close off access to it until the community feels it is safe to reopen.
Hundreds of people usually gather at the landmark to watch the first sunrise of the New Year and over the holiday period many go for a hīkoi up to the lighthouse.
The closure follows recent announcements from East Coast iwi Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou and eastern Bay of Plenty iwi Te Whānau a Apanui asking people to not visit the East Coast over summer while the area continued to vaccinate its people against Covid-19.
The Kohere whānau said mana whenua and the wider community in the isolated area of Te Araroa did not feel ready to receive visitors because they were an at-risk area with low vaccination rates and they needed to limit pressure on health services across the region.
"We know that many love to visit the East Cape Lighthouse, especially for the sunrise and New Year's Day, but we will not be able to host you this summer," the whānau said in a statement.
"After discussions with our community we have made the decision to close access to the East Cape Lighthouse to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Aotearoa as the country moves out of alert levels and into the protection framework, also known as the traffic light system.
"Māori health providers, marae, and hapū have been working tirelessly to get our people vaccinated - those efforts continue and we are asking for the summer to increase those rates so that we can be in a better position to protect our community when we decide to re-open access.
"The decision to close off access has been discussed within whānau and the community and is the best course of action that we can take to support and care for our community.
"We are asking people to please respect this decision."