Walk 25, Te Puna Quarry, 31 Dec 2019
The last walk for 2019, and the most interesting yet. There’s so much to see.
Local residents banded together and formed a beautiful garden park interspered with sculpture, some of which can be “played” on. What they’ve created out of a disused quarry is amazing.
History: In 1864 the land was confiscated from the Maori in the land wars, and in 1911 it was turned into a quarry for the next 60+ years.
We met legendary local volunteer Jo Dawkins at work in the succulent garden. She explained that after hearing the council might reopen the quarry, the community decided they didn’t want the noise and heavy traffic and so they repurposed the land into a park and sculpture garden.
In 1993 the Te Puna Quarry Park Society was formed and in 2000 the park was officially opened.
Walk: Bay of Plenty 4
Links
Boosting butterflies at Te Puna Quarry Park
Te Puna Quarry Park celebrates 20th anniversary
I’m happy to see that they got their 20th celebration in the nick of time, just before the Covid-19 shutdown.
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