It has begun. With the incredible hospitality of the Kiwis, Dan and I made it to the start line, Cape Reinga, to start hiking the Te Araroa trail.
Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) and Spirits Leap: the afterlife is a spiritual concept shared by many cultures. Cape Reinga is the site of departure for Māori spirits.
Cape Reinga represents the top of the North Island. For Māori, Cape Reinga is the most spiritually significant place in New Zealand.
An ancient pohutukawa tree and a lonely lighthouse mark this special place. It is here that after death, all Māori spirits travel up the coast and over the wind-swept vista to the pohutukawa tree on the headland of Te Rerenga Wairua.
They descend into the underworld (reinga) by sliding down a root into the sea below. The spirits then travel underwater to the Three Kings Islands where they climb out onto Ohaua, the highest point of the islands, and bid their last farewell before returning to the land of their ancestors, Hawaiiki-A-Nui.
Descending onto Ninety Mile Beach, the very first section of Te Araroa tramping in New Zealand.