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Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga 1

Visit Cape Reinga Lighthouse 

Cape Reinga Lighthouse station is accessible to the public. The lighthouse is not open to visitors. 

Lighthouse overview 

The Cape Reinga Lighthouse is at the top of the North Island. It is one of the first lights ships see when they arrive from the Tasman Sea and North Pacific Ocean. 

 

Lighthouse feature: 

Details 

Location: 

latitude 34°26' south, longitude 172°41' east 

Elevation: 

79 metres above sea level 

Construction: 

concrete tower 

Tower height: 

10 metres 

Light configuration: 

24-volt flashing LED beacon 

Light flash character: 

white light flashing once every 12 seconds 

Power source: 

batteries charged by solar panels 

Range: 

19 nautical miles (35 kilometres) 

Date light first lit: 

1941 

Automated: 

1987 

Demanned: 

1987 

  

There is no public access to enter the lighthouse

The lighthouse looks out from the top of the North Island to the meeting of the Tasman and Pacific oceans. Approximately 10,000 people visit each year.

Find Cape Reinga Lighthouse on the map (opens in new tab)

The history of Cape Reinga Lighthouse 

Cape Reinga Lighthouse replaced the lighthouse on nearby Motuopao Island. This island is off Cape Maria Van Diemen. 

The Maria Van Diemen Lighthouse was built in 1879. Access was always difficult. In 1886, because it was hard to get a boat across the rough seas, a flying fox was built from the island to the mainland. Although the flying fox was meant to be only for supplies and mail, keepers and their families also crossed the channel in the flying fox basket. 

In 1933, an assistant lighthouse keeper’s wife was swept off the rocks near the lighthouse at Maria Van Diemen. The decision was made to build a new tower on the mainland at Cape Reinga. 

Completed in 1941, Cape Reinga Lighthouse was the last watched lighthouse built in New Zealand. 

The new light had little use for the first few years because of wartime blackout restrictions. The threat of invasion was a real fear for the keepers. In 1918, during World War One, the German raider Wolf was seen anchored in nearby Twilight Bay. Only months before, the passenger ship Wimmera was sunk by a mine 29 kilometres off the cape. Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, 26 people lost their lives. 

Also in 1918, a mine drifted onto the mainland opposite the lighthouse. Although the keepers reported it during the night, it exploded before the army arrived to investigate. The explosion cracked the windows of one of the keeper's homes. 

It was thought unlikely the enemy would bomb the lighthouse, as its light was just as useful to enemy ships as it was to allied vessels.  

 

Operation of the light 

When Cape Reinga Lighthouse began operating in 1941, it was powered by diesel-generated electricity. 

The lighthouse was automated in 1987, and the last keeper left the same year. 

In 2000, Maritime NZ removed the original light and associated equipment and installed a modern rotating beacon illuminated by a 50-watt tungsten halogen bulb. Battery banks charged by solar panels now power the light.  
 
In 2023, the light was upgraded to an LED flashing beacon with a 24-volt power system. 

 

Life at Cape Reinga Lighthouse 

Cape Reinga Lighthouse had two keepers. When it was built, it was one of the least accessible lighthouses in New Zealand. Over time, access improved and by the mid 1960s the keepers were hosting upwards of 200 visitors a day. 

In 1951, a school was established for the keepers’ children. When it closed a decade later, the children travelled to a nearby school.