New Zealand Short Walk: A whimiscal walk in Kerikeri
Whimsy is the order of the day on this quirky sculpture walk. It is a section of the 2ha Wharepuke Subtropical Garden on the outskirts of Kerikeri, Bay of Islands.
The trail – 1km in length - is outlined by ropes. It twists and turns, up and down, mostly through light bush, sometimes in open breaks. Every now and then you encounter a sculpture or feature lining the trail. Watch out -- they may be above you.
There are about 42 on the trail. They’re for sale, so the collection is always changing.
The works are by artists at different stages of their careers. Some just beginning, others have had work included in major international museums such as the V&A in London and the James Wallace Collection in New Zealand. Some have exhibited in sculpture parks like the Krollor Meuller in the Netherlands, Gibbs Farm and Brick Bay in New Zealand.
When our Wellington group visited, a tall almost-stately arrangement of old milk cartoons was one of the first works we saw.
Then we encountered a line of tree stumps with decorated saws embedded in them, blue glass birds pointing skywards, bamboo stalks with a pattern of holes, a bird bath in the shape of a flower and – most spectacular – a fall of twisted rope hanging from a tall tree. Wood is used effectively by some sculptors, as in the wide wooden pillars lined up vertically on a tree stump. Some sculptures are made of flimsy, see-through materials that quiver in the soft breezes.
Statue-flowers, made from the area’s white clay, ‘grow’ out of one patch of ground. I loved the old man in the bath under a tree.
One intriguing figure is of a pregnant woman. It is surrounded by red flowers. For this is a flower and foliage garden too. The plants and trees on this walk often followed the theme and were sculptural also -- spiky cactus plants and the slender arches of the cabbage tree, for instance.
Wharepuke (House on the Hill) was originally established by Robin Booth in 1993 as a nursery and has since expanded and been transformed to the level of belonging to the Garden of Significance New Zealand Garden Trust.
Wharepuke has been in the Booth family since 1938. It is now divided between four brothers. Their aim is to label the 600 different plant species in the garden. It’s a work in progress.
The Sculpture Walk is a quirky addition to the enormous range of Bay of Islands’ walks and treks for which this area is so famous.