Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga  is where New Zealand begins or where the Maoir's  end their journey of life jumping from a gnarled pohutukawa tree, believed to be over 800 years old. According to Maori oral history, the spirits of deceased Maori leap from this tree into the ocean to return to their ancestral ancestral homeland  of  Hawaiki.

It is also where  Pacific Oceans meets the Tasman Sea... a literal collision of two giants with swirling white masses of waters to mark the spot.  This is considered sacred land and it indeed has an almost haunting presence about it.

The Pohuntukawa tree pictured to the right apparently never flowers.  It stands along on this barren chunk of rock defying wind and waves for centuries.  This is taken with a 60x zoom. It is a long distance from the light house.  Part of the oral legend springs from this particular tree.

This northern extremity of New Zealand is best described as a 100 kilometre peninsula with a scant few kilometres separating the vast ocean bodies. Red sands carpet the hillsides.  These are thought to be the legacy of eons of wind swept sands from the vast continent of Australia.  Winds were indeed strong out of the west on the day we ventured to this remote and intriguing site.

This was part of a day long adventure by tour bus.  Being a winter day there were few passengers aboard and not too many more at the actual cape.  Consequently we enjoyed near individual attention and discussion with the tour guide who offered a bus load of information throughout the course of the day.  Additionally we had front row seats with a view that would been hard to match in a car.

I took pictures galore. The day was pleasant enough, sufficiently warm to allow us to linger at the more interesting sites. We took up conversations with the other passengers from Germany, England, Australia and elsewhere. 

The next three entries are all part of this trip.  Arendje is after me to arrange trips to the islands but I am finding enough here to captivate my interests for a long time.