Cape Rēinga Lighthouse, New Zealand

At the furthest most Northern point of New Zealand, on the Aupouri Peninsula, sits a lonely little lighthouse on the edge of a steep rocky cape, lashed by the Tasman Sea to the west and the South Pacific Ocean to the east.

Built in 1941 the Lighthouse is a New Zealand Icon.

During a road trip in 2009 Capt'n and Wench visited the Cape in our old Campervan 'Destiny'.
That was back before the main highway had been tar-sealed, which meant a slow, bumpy and winding drive north from Te Kao where the road turned into gravel.

To the Māori people of New Zealand, Cape Rēinga and especially Te Rerenga-wairua, the leaping place of spirits, is the most significantly spiritual place in the whole country.
According to kōrero tara (legends), it is here to the cape that after death all Māori spirits will travel before they embark on their journey to find the world beyond the world of the living.

Next to the Lighthouse stands a signpost indicating distances to various places in the world.

On the website for NZ On Screen you can find a definitely unique short animated film from 1984 titled Te Rerenga Wairua that tells the story of a spirits journey from death to the afterlife.

For some more reading on the subject check out the links below.

• A map of the spirits journey.
  https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/30796/te-rerenga-wairua

• Local information and history from the Department of Conservation.
  http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/northland/places/te-paki-recreation-reserve/cape-reinga-te-rerenga-wairua/heritage/

• Hawaiki: The Original Home of the Maori, With a Sketch of Polynesian History by S. Percy Smith, Published 1904 is hosted online by Victoria University of Wellington.
  http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SmiHawa.html

All of these photographs were shot with an old Sony Ericsson W810i (best mobile phone camera Capt'n ever owned).