The fantastically shaped rocks which characterise Bream Head make it a fascinating and imposing place.� The peninsula is of special significance to Ngati Wai, who regard the mountain (Te Whara) as an ancestor and consider the whole area, including the network of walking tracks through it, wahi tapu (sacred places). This is because the mountains were once used as urupa (burial grounds).� There is archaeological evidence of dense early occupation, including a small pa site on Busby Head, house terraces and storage pits.� Bream Head is the highest land mass in the area at 488m and the steep rocks which comprise it are the eroded remains of a range of volcanoes which erupted somewhere around 20 million years ago!

In much more recent times Bream Head has become the focus of major conservation efforts.� The scenic reserve is one of New Zealand's premier coastal forest reserves, home to a variety of rare plants and animals.� The southernmost colony of the endangered native flax snail, pupuharakeke, is also found there.� And Bream Head has been designated a national kiwi sanctuary thanks to a local breeding programme and ongoing pest control operations.

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