CAPE REINGA

This magical place with beliefs is a necessary visit during a stay in Northland. The road alone already gives the verge. For Maori, Cap Reinga is Te Rerenga Wairua, or «the passing point of the dead». Legend says that after death, all spirits travel along the Ninety Mile Beach beach to Cap Reinga, where they descend to Pohutukawa, the only tree at the end of the site, 800 years old. It is by sliding along its roots that souls enter the other world (Reinga). Next to the place where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean come together, they go back to Ohahau (the culmination of the Three Knights Islands that sometimes can be seen in the distance) to make their last farewell to the living before returning to the country of ancestors, Hawaii. If Cape Reinga is not the most northerly point of the island - it is the Surville Cliffs, inaccessible by car - it is the most touristic, especially thanks to its lighthouse and its associated beliefs. And it's very difficult not to be sensitive to it so much. Sea and ocean currents occur in the downwards in an endless ballet of waves and whirlpools, an impressive and unique ballet in the world. The whole area is located in the vast reserve of Te Paki, which is of rare beauty and where hiking is queen. To come here, the cheapest will be to borrow your own vehicle, but the simplest and most instructive is also to go through a bus tour from the Northland cities, so that you can have a lot of explanations and anecdotes about the region.