Knowra Cape Reinga Cape Reinga Cape Reinga is a headland at the northwestern tip of New Zealand’s North Island, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It is a sacred place in Māori tradition and a landmark on the island’s northern coast.
Māori mythology : The body of traditional narratives, cosmologies, and sacred histories of Māori people. Māori accounts connect this headland with the spirits of the dead and their journey to Hawaiki.
Cape Reinga Lighthouse : A lighthouse at Cape Reinga, first lit in 1941 to guide ships near New Zealand’s northern coast. Its beacon marks the exposed headland where the two seas meet.
Tasman Sea : A marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand. Its waters approach the cape from the west.
Three Kings Islands : A group of uninhabited islands northwest of New Zealand’s North Island. They lie offshore from the cape and form a conspicuous feature of the surrounding seascape.
Māori religion : The spiritual beliefs and practices of Māori communities, including relationships among people, ancestors, and the natural world. The sacred status of Cape Reinga reflects Māori understandings of land, ancestry, and spiritual passage.
Te Paki Recreation Reserve : A protected area of dunes, forest, and coastline at the northern end of New Zealand’s North Island. The reserve contains landscapes reached on journeys to Cape Reinga.
Pacific Ocean : The largest ocean on Earth, extending between Asia and Australia to the west and the Americas to the east. The Pacific reaches the cape from the east.
Cape Maria van Diemen : A headland on the western coast of New Zealand’s Far North, south of Cape Reinga. This nearby headland helps distinguish the cape’s northwestern position from other coastal points.
Hawaiki : A homeland in Māori and other Polynesian traditions, associated with origins and the destination of spirits after death. In Māori tradition, spirits departing from the cape travel toward Hawaiki.
Ninety Mile Beach : A long sandy beach on the west coast of New Zealand’s Far North, officially about 88 kilometres long. The beach forms a prominent coastal route toward the cape.
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