Timing

At the southern end of Te Werahi Beach is Te Werahi Stream, which should preferably be crossed at low tide, but can be crossed at mid tide.

Access

This track is the middle in a trio of walks - all on the Te Paki Coastal Track.
1. Cape Reinga to Te Werahi Beach
2. Te Werahi Beach to Twilight Beach
3. Twilight Beach to Te Paki Stream.

The start of the first track is signposted to Te Werahi Beach from the carpark at Cape Reinga.

Alternatively you can start the walk from Te Paki Stream carpark, which is 4km down Te Paki Stream Road, 17km before Cape Reinga.

You can also join the walk via the Te Werahi Gate to Te Werahi Beach track.

Track

The Te Paki Coastal Track is a 48 km 3 day tramp traversing New Zealand’s northernmost tip.

The descriptions here have broken the tramp into bite size chunks, with Cape Reinga at the fulcrum.

This is the second in a trio of walks starting at Cape Reinga.
1. Cape Reinga to Te Werahi Beach
2. Te Werahi Beach to Twilight Beach
3. Twilight Beach to Te Paki Stream.

At the southern end of Te Werahi Beach is Te Werahi Stream, which should preferably be crossed at low tide, but can be crossed at mid tide.

Large orange triangles on posts indicate the track over the Herangi Hill dunes to the signposted Cape Maria van Diemen turnoff (45 minutes).

This 1½ hour detour drops down the southern side of a large sand bowl for 20 minutes before climbing a steep grass bank along a formed but unmarked track to the light station (25 minutes). Return to the main track by the same route.

It’s a further 45 minutes along an old vehicle track through low vegetation to the north-western end of Twilight Beach (Te Paengarehia).

Twilight Beach takes 40 minutes to walk.

Fauna

The almost extinct land snail Placostylus ambagiosus is prevalent in the area, but populations have been ravaged by wild pigs. Fossilised shells have been found in the dunes near Cape Maria Van Diemen. The species occurs only in the Solomon Islands and Fiji, suggesting the connection of these landmasses by land bridges to New Zealand in times of lower sea level.

Polynesian History

To Maori the area around Cape Reinga is sacred. After journeying up Ninety Mile Beach, a spirit will climb a high hill called Haumu and bid farewell to the land of the living. It drinks from the stream called Te-wai-o-ngunguru (‘Waters of the Underworld’) and travels down the exposed root of the legendary pohutukawa at Cape Reinga. From there it travels to the Manawa-Tahi (Three Kings Islands), meaning ‘last breath’, and on to Hawaiki.

European History

Cape Maria van Diemen was named by Abel Tasman on January 5th 1643 to honour the wife of the Governor of Batavia.

Twilight Beach was named after the wreck of the schooner Twilight on 25th March 1871, with the loss of two lives. In 1966 the collier Kaitawa also sunk nearby. All 29 crew members drowned. Wreckage from the wheelhouse was later retrieved from the beach. The beach was formerly known as Rahu Bay.