Bream Head

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Bream Head is a rocky promontory on the east coast of Northland, New Zealand. It sits at the end of a 30-kilometre peninsula and sticks out into the Pacific Ocean just southeast of Whangārei. The Te Whara Track runs through the Bream Head Scenic Reserve, an area that is at least 700 years old. About 12 kilometres offshore are the Hen and Chicken Islands. Bream Head marks the northern edge of Bream Bay and protects the entrance to Whangārei Harbour. Across the harbour to the west is the Marsden Point Oil Refinery, about five kilometres away. To the north is Ocean Beach. The Bream Head Scenic Reserve is an important place for Māori (wāhi tapu) and one of Northland’s key coastal forests, home to native flora and fauna such as the flax snail (pūpūharakeke) and Whirinaki skinks. The headland rises to a tall bluff called Te Whara, about 476 metres high, with nearby Mount Lion at 395 metres. These are the remains of an old Miocene volcanic area.