Pacific Ocean Meets The Tasman Sea, Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga Lighthouse was built in 1941. In 1998, it became fully automated and there was no longer any need for lighthouse keepers. Today, it still serves its function as a lighthouse. It took 6 photos to compose below panorama. You can catch a glimpse of the giant sand dunes again on the bottom right corner. Cape Reinga is at the northern tip of North Island and Bluff (indicated on the yellow signpost) is at the southern end of South Island. Between them, a long journey and I traveled that distance in May-June 2006.

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Cape Reinga Lighthouse, May 2006
Off the cape, you can see where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. This meeting of the seas produces very choppy waters. Do you see the two persons at the bottom right corner of the photo? Take note of their size and you can imagine how huge those white frothy waves are!

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Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea
Cape Reinga, May 2006

Cape Reinga, "The Leaping Place"

At the northern end of North Island of New Zealand lies Cape Reinga. It is often mistaken as the northernmost point of North Island. However, that privilege really belongs to Surville Cliffs which is some 30km away.

Cape Reinga is sacred to the Maori. In Maori language, Cape Reinga is known as Te Rerenga Wairua, which means the leaping-off place of spirits! In Maori belief, the spirits of the deceased would make their way to the cape and from this point, the spirits depart the mainland and make their journey in the afterlife to their spiritual homeland in Hawaiki. As they depart, they turn briefly at the “Three Kings” islands for one last look towards the land and then continue on their journey.

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The famous mailbox on the right
Cape Reinga, May 2006
New Zealand is often perceived as having lush greenery but at Cape Reinga you will discover a desert of giant sand dunes and quicksand! You will see the sand dunes on the left side of above photo. The “Three Kings” are the islands off the coast.

One of the things you may wish to do is to drop a postcard at the Cape Reinga mailbox. It is shown on the right of above photo. Postcards dropped at this mailbox will bear the special postmark “Cape Reinga”. There are no tourist shops around here so purchase the postcard and postage stamp prior to making this trip.

Continuing from the right of above photo is the Cape Reinga Lighthouse. While this area certainly looks like a nice picnic ground, out of respect to Maori, all visitors are requested to refrain from food and drinks on this sacred land.

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Cape Reinga Lighthouse, May 2006