Explore Spirits Bay (Kapowairua), New Zealand

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Spirits Bay is an isolated bay at the end of the Aupouri Peninsula, near the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island. Camp in a picturesque setting between the beach (5 min walk) and hills of the Aupouri Peninsula north of Kaitaia. A perfect place for fishing, swimming and walking. Kapowairua (Spirits Bay) Campsite has lush forests and sandy beaches in close range. Kapowairua is a place to relax, enjoy and explore the great outdoors. The bay is 12 kilometres in width. It is one of two bays (the other being Tom Bowling Bay) in the short length of coast that marks the tip of the North Island. A long walking path, about 8.5 kilometers (5.3 miles) long, runs beside the bay. The bay is considered a sacred place in Maori culture as according to local legend, it is the location where spirits of the dead gather to depart from this world to travel to their ancestral home (or afterlife) from a large old pohutakawa tree above the bay. A Māori name for Spirits Bay, Kapowairua (meaning to "catch the spirit"), comes from a Maori language saying that translates into English as: "I can shelter from the wind. But I cannot shelter from the longing for my daughter. I shall venture as far as Hokianga, and beyond. Your task (should I die) shall be to grasp my spirit." The words were spoken by Tōhē, a chief of the Ngāti Kahu people, who is considered one of Muriwhenua’s most important ancestors. Tōhē made his way south, naming more than one hundred places along the western coast, until dying at Whāngaiariki near Maunganui Bluff. A variety of birds inhabit the bay area such as paradise ducks, New Zealand Dotterel, Oystercatchers, and Caspian terns. Plant life at the beach includes paraha vine. Kapowairua (Spirits Bay) is located in the northernmost area of New Zealand, north of Kaitaia. From Kaitaia head north on State Highway 1. Follow signposts from Waitiki Landing, turn onto Te Hapua Road for 16 km and then onto Spirits Bay Rd, follow to end until you reach the Kapowairua campsite. Access:From Waitiki Landing, you travel 16 km on a gravel road.

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