The pier in Omapere, looking across the Hokianga Harbour to the sand dunes. The sand dune headland is called Niua and the rocky headland further down the coast on the Omapere side is called Arai-te-uru after the Taniwha (spirits) that Kupe, the Maori mythical discoverer of New Zealand left to guide his wakas (canoes) home after he left to return to the spirit world, and ancestral land of Maori, of Hawaiki.