Poor Knights Islands

The Poor Knights Islands, known in Maori as Tawhiti Rahi, are a group of uninhabited islands off the eastern coast of Northland, New Zealand, about 50 kilometers northeast of Whangarei and 22 kilometers offshore between Bream Head and Cape Brett. They are the eroded remnants of a rhyolitic volcano roughly 4 million years old that originally stood about 1,000 meters tall with a base some 25 kilometers across, formed during early eruptions of the Coromandel Volcanic Zone between about 10 and 9.5 million years ago. Uninhabited since the 1820s, the islands cover 2.714 square kilometers, have been a nature reserve since 1975 with strict IUCN Category Ia protection, and are surrounded by the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve, a popular destination for diving tours departing from nearby Tutukaka.