Cape Terawhiti is the southwesternmost point of the North Island of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The cape is located 16 kilometres to the west of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

of New Zealand. Ohau Point, located on the northern tip of Cape Terawhiti and, along with Perano Head on Arapaoa Island in the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori ...

, marks the narrowest part of

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...

. It is also the closest point in the North Island to the South Island, with West Head, at the mouth of the

Tory Channel Tory Channel / Kura Te Au is one of the drowned valleys that form the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand. Inter-island ferries normally use it as the principal channel between Cook Strait and the Marlborough Sounds. Tory Channel / Kura Te Au lies ...

being only 28 kilometres away (this point in the South Island lies to the northwest of Cape Terawhiti). Cape Terawhiti, from which historic Terawhiti Station gets its name, came into being through a misconception of Captain Cook’s Tahitian interpreter, Tupaea. When, in 1769, Cook asked what the land in the east was, the local Maori replied simply, 'the east'. In fact Te Ra-whiti (The Rising Sun) is the general Maori term for the East Coast of the North Island. Omere is said to be the original name of Cape Terawhiti. At the southern end of Cape Terawhiti is Oteranga Bay, the termination point for the inter-island Cook Strait power cable. The proper name for the bay is Oterongo. The ''Maria'', on its way from Lyttelton Harbour to

, foundered at Cape Terawhiti on 23 July 1851, with the loss of 26 lives and 2 survivors. One of those drowned was the early

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

settler William Deans.

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

was found near Cape Terawhiti in 1862 and was mined for several years. Cape Terawhiti Commons

References

{{coord, -41.284365, 174.613271, region:NZ_type:landmark, display=title Terawhiti Cook Strait