Cooks Monument

About

In 1769 Cook made landfall in New Zealand at a place south of what we know today as the Mercury Bay. He then headed north and anchored at Cooks Beach, where he spent a few days and observed the transit of Mercury across the sun. The sighting of the Transit of Mercury is commemorated on Cooks Beach by a cairn of Coromandel granite which tells the story; "In this bay was anchored 5 Nov 1769, HMS Endeavor, Lieutenant James Cook RN, Commander. He observed the transit of Mercury and named this bay." Time: 2 minutes return