Cape Reinga (Te Rerenga Wairua)

Meaning

At the tip of the cape where two seas meet, the waters of the Tasman and the Pacific collide in a long white line. Below the cliff a lone old pōhutukawa tree leans out over the sea — the place, it is told, from which spirits follow the water home.

The northernmost cape of Aotearoa (New Zealand), called in Māori 'the leaping place of spirits' (Te Rerenga Wairua). Tradition holds that the spirit of one who has died descends here by the cliff's old pōhutukawa tree into the sea, to return to the ancestral homeland of Hawaiki. It is also known as the place where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet in colliding waves.

Field notes

Location

Aotearoa · New Zealand · S34.4° · E172.7°

Best time

A clear day when the line where the two seas meet is visible; the light of late afternoon

Getting there

From Kaitaia in New Zealand's North Island, drive north to the lookout at the tip of the cape.

Etiquette

One of the most sacred (tapu) places to Māori; do not eat here, and keep to the marked paths and local custom.

Sources

• · Encyclopaedia Britannica
• · New Zealand Department of Conservation

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