Sights in Cape Reinga & Ninety Mile Beach
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Ancient Kauri Kingdom
It’s tacky and overpriced, but Ancient Kauri Kingdom is still worth a stop. Here 50,000-year-old kauri stumps dragged out of swamps are fashioned into furniture, woodcraft products and a fair bit of tourist tat. The large complex includes a cafe, gift shop and workshop. A huge kauri log has an impressive spiral staircase carved into it that leads to the mezzanine level.
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Gumdiggers Park
Kauri forests covered this area for over 100,000 years, leaving ancient logs and the much-prized gum (used for making varnish and linoleum) buried beneath. Digging it out of the mud was the region’s main industry from the 1870s to the 1920s. In 1900, some 7000 gumdiggers (wearing rubber gumboots – the NZ name for Wellingtons) were digging holes all over Northland, including at this site. Start with the 15-minute video telling the story of the trees, their mysterious destruction and the gum industry. Rope paths head through the bush, leading past reproductions of gumdiggers’ huts, ancient kauri stumps and holes left by the diggers. It was a hard life for the workers, who…
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Te Paki Recreation Reserve
A large chunk of the land around Cape Reinga is part of the Te Paki Recreation Reserve managed by DOC. It’s public land with free access; leave the gates as you found them and don’t disturb the animals. There are 7 sq km of giant sand dunes on either side of the mouth of Te Paki Stream. Clamber up to take flying leaps off the dunes or to toboggan down them.
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Great Exhibition Bay
On the east coast, Great Exhibition Bay has dazzling snow-white silica dunes. There’s no public road access, but some tours pay a koha (donation) to cross Maori farmland or approach the sand by kayak from Parengarenga Harbour.
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Cape Reinga
Standing at windswept Cape Reinga Lighthouse (a 1km walk from the car park) and looking out over the ocean engenders a real end-of-the-world feeling. This is where the waters of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet, breaking together into waves up to 10m high in stormy weather. Little tufts of cloud often cling to the ridges, giving sudden spooky chills even on hot days.
Visible on a promontory slightly to the east is a spiritually significant 800-year-old pohutukawa tree; souls are believed to slide down its roots. Out of respect to the most sacred site in Maoridom, don’t go near the tree and refrain from eating or drinking anywhere in the area.
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Nga-Tapuwae-o-te-Mangai
With its two domed towers (Arepa and Omeka, alpha and omega) and the Ratana emblem of the star and crescent moon, you could be forgiven for mistaking this temple for a mosque. Ratana is a Maori Christian sect with more than 50,000 adherents, formed in 1925 by Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, who was known as ‘the mouthpiece of God’. The temple is built on land where Ratana once stood; the name translates as 'the sacred steps of the mouthpiece'. You'll pass it at Te Kao, 46km south of Cape Reinga.
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