Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach Day Trip from Paihia

From Paihia to the Far North

The day begins in Paihia, the main town of the Bay of Islands, and heads north through the green hills, orchards and harbours of Northland. Beyond the town of Kaitaia the land narrows into the Aupouri Peninsula, a long finger of sand, wetlands and pine forest between two oceans, with only a few small settlements along the road.

This region is often called the Far North, and its history is closely tied to the Māori tribes who have lived here for centuries and to the early gum diggers who dug the land for fossilised kauri resin. Your guide shares these stories along the way. A Cape Reinga day trip from Paihia is a long drive, about 3.5 hours each way, so travelling with a guide lets you relax and enjoy the scenery.

Cape Reinga Lighthouse

Cape Reinga sits near the northern tip of New Zealand, and its small white lighthouse, built in 1941, stands on a headland about 165 metres above the sea. A paved path of about one kilometre leads from the car park down to the lighthouse, past information panels, and takes about 20 minutes each way at an easy pace.

Next to the lighthouse, a famous signpost shows the distances to cities around the world, a favourite photo spot. From the edge you look down on the place where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, and on many days you can see the lines of white water where the two currents clash. Is Cape Reinga worth visiting? For the views alone, yes: it feels like standing at the end of the world.

Te Rerenga Wairua, a sacred place

For Māori, Cape Reinga is Te Rerenga Wairua, the leaping-off place of souls. According to tradition, the souls of the departed travel up the coast to this headland and descend to the sea by the roots of an ancient pōhutukawa tree that clings to the rocks below, said to be more than 800 years old, before beginning their journey to Hawaiki, the ancestral land of the Māori.

Because of this, the cape is treated with great respect: visitors are asked not to eat or drink at the lighthouse area and to keep to the paths. Your guide explains the meaning of the site, and the quiet atmosphere, with the wind and the two oceans below, makes this one of the most moving moments of any Northland tour.

The Te Paki giant sand dunes

Not far from the cape, the Te Paki giant sand dunes rise like a golden desert in the middle of green New Zealand. Some of the dunes are well over 100 metres high, shaped by the strong westerly winds blowing in from the Tasman Sea, and they make a striking contrast with the surrounding bush.

Here you can climb the soft slopes and slide back down on a sandboard, lying on your stomach for speed, conditions permitting. The climb is the hard part, the ride is fast and fun, and you can go as many times as your legs allow. Te Paki sand dunes sandboarding is a favourite with children and adults alike, so wear clothes you do not mind getting full of sand.

Ninety Mile Beach

Ninety Mile Beach, called Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē in Māori, stretches down the west coast of the Aupouri Peninsula. Despite its name it is about 88 kilometres long, or around 55 miles, but it is still one of the longest beaches in New Zealand, an unbroken line of surf, sand and sky.

The beach is an official highway, and specially built tour vehicles drive along the hard sand near the water when the tide allows, often entering or leaving by the shallow bed of Te Paki Stream. Depending on the tide, your guide decides whether to drive the beach on the way north or on the return. A Ninety Mile Beach tour is the only way most visitors ever get to ride on this wild, empty coastline.