At the north of New Zealand, where the land narrows to a jagged outcrop lashed on each side by waves, an ancient pohutukawa tree clings to the cliff. In 800 years this tree has never flowered. This is the Leaping Place of the Spirits.
The Maori say that the spirits of the dead travel along Te Ara Wairua, the path of the spirits, which winds its way up the coasts of New Zealand until it reaches this tree. The spirits climb down the roots of the tree to Maurianuku, the entrance to the underworld.
They lower themselves into the sea and make their way back home to their spiritual homeland Hawaiki.
We walk in their footsteps from Spirits Bay on the east coast.
Spirits Bay is guarded by the loneliest and loveliest graves,
decorated with koru and kete.
We reach the northern most point of New Zealand, Te Rerenga Wairua, Cape Reinga. Here is the Meeting Point – the Pacific Ocean swirls in from the east to meet the angry Tasman Sea crashing in from the west. The Maori say this point is where the male sea meets the female sea and the whirlpools symbolize the creation of life.
The West coast stretches away towards Cape Maria Van Diemen, an empty land of waves which have claimed many lives. Sand dunes and beaches stretch, limitless.
Today the Cape is benign.
The sun lowers. Along Twilight beach,
Life and death, the carcass of a whale and a blue penguin watches with a baleful eye.
Our path ends next morning at the northern point of 90 Mile Beach. Here is the hill where the spirits look back to farewell their people.
The Maori say that on a misty day, if you hold your breath, you can hear Te Reo Irirangi, a strange high singing, just on the edge of silence, as the spirits pass. Sometimes the spirits are chattering and laughing too.
We turn back towards the land of the known.