A spiritual awakening (Source TVNZ Travel August)

New Zealand is a spiritual place. When you’re in Auckland, NZ’s most populated city with about one million people, it’s not always evident.
But hop on a bus under the iconic Sky Tower and head north for about four hours and you can smell the spirituality.
Up north, everyone says, “Kiaora” (a Maori greeting), many are sporting green stone pendants around their neck and all explanations are tied to Maori folklore.
This is because the top of the North Island is where it all began for New Zealand.

About 1000 years ago, according to the Maori people, navigator, Kupe, and his wife, paddled a waka (canoe) from the island of Hawaiiki, believed to be near French Polynesia, and landed at Hokianga Harbour on the west coast.
Then jutting out at the very top of the North Island is Cape Reinga - or Te Rerenga Wairua - translation: “the leaping-off place of spirits”.
The spot, where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea collide, is believed by Maori to be the departure place of spirits when you die.

And on the east coast in the Bay of Islands, is Waitangi, where, in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by the Maori people and the first white immigrants.

It’s easy to get swept up in the cultural significance of the north. It’s accessible, the locals are passionate and the scenery is stunning.

As a writer I’m a curious question master and I scrawl reams of notes.
But in Northland, every time I engage with a local I’m so overwhelmed I can’t stop to get my notebook out and take down any shorthand.
Plus, the stories were so packed with emotion it feels almost disrespectful to indicate with my pen that I can capture it in a few scribbled symbols.

I was living my five-day stay up north rather than observing it.
I was learning bird calls, feeling the crisp air at the 2.8 million-year-old Wairere boulders and was near tears when admiring the world’s tallest kauri tree - Tane Mahuta - the Lord of the Forest.

And I’m not alone in my spiritual awakening.
Local tour guide Bill tells me folks are always returning up north to soak up the spirituality - he did himself - returning to the region after spending some time working in Auckland.

Bill is a captivating man. He has long hair, wears a single feather earring, has clear eyes and is softly spoken.

He says the significance of the north is unexplainable, you have to immerse yourself in it to really understand.

Northland makes you want to take your shoes off, swim in the ocean, soak up the sun’s rays, smell the leaves - it makes you appreciate what’s around you.

I can see why Kupe liked it here so much.

The writer, Nicky Park, was a guest of Destination Northland.