The Breath of the World - Te Haa o Te Ao

UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2022

With the relentless rain over winter, the construction of the sculpture has taken longer then expected.  Originally planned to be finished in May, the vandalism that occurred at Easter weekend caused a 6-week delay, which pushed us into the winter months and has meant a further twelve week delay in completion. 

We are near the end of construction with the last of the boulders being connected to the cables this week, and the scaffolding due to come down over the coming weeks.  The next step is then to connect the internal pulley system to the winch so that the sculpture can be moved into place and then ‘adjusted’ by the school students as they monitor the effects of climate change and the improvements (or otherwise) we are making as a community and as a country to reduce our impact.

Our Kerikeri have also submitted applications to funders for stage 2 of the project, the landscaping.  The biggest heartfelt thanks must be given to two incredible community volunteers - Jane Jones and Bonita Burnett who prepared the applications for us.  We are forever grateful to people in our community who help unlock the potential in our town.

Phase 2 - The Landscaping

We engaged Hawthorn Landscape Architects to create a low maintenance landscape plan for our entranceway, incorporating the essence and history of Kerikeri. In the landscape plan, you will see it pay homage to our many rivers, waterfalls and our horticulture.

July 2022

After many meetings and thanks to Mayor John Carter’s support, Waka Kotahi (NZTA) have now agreed to maintain the landscaping under the Landscape Architects recommended maintenance plan. This is because the plan was designed with low maintenance as a top priority. We are appreciative of Waka Kotahi’s support of this project.

UPDATE- MAY 2022

During the recent Easter weekend, vandals broke into the fenced area of the sculpture and proceeded to climb the scaffolding. 63 of the 120 cables were pulled up then threaded back into the pole which they then dropped inside the pole to the bottom (15 metres down). They also used these cables to repeatedly hit the Manu at the top of the sculpture which was lovingly and thoughtfully designed by Tom Heihei of Te Tii.

Our partners and friends, Te Rūnanga O Ngāti Rēhia are deeply saddened by these events, as are we.

At a time when construction costs have increased by 15-20% since the funding application was submitted, to have to now deal with these extra costs is disheartening. All 63 cables that were damaged and kinked by the vandals now need to be replaced including all their engineered fittings. We simply cannot compromise the safety of the sculpture. The manu needs to be repaired, scaffolding that was damaged replaced and extended hireage, two more crane trips to remove and re-install the manu, rigging to install the new cables, extra security and many many many more hours of the artist, his team and other local contractors, mean our project in its totality will not be able to be completed.

When we originally applied for the funding, it included full landscaping of the roundabout and two corners. We were unsuccessful in receiving the full funding we had requested and received funding for only the sculpture itself. Our hope was to include the Welcome to Kerikeri carved sign, information board and the landscaping of that one corner. With the increased construction costs due to Covid and now this set back, we are deeply saddened by what we will now no longer be able to complete.

The Police are involved and actively working in pursuing the leads we have.

An image of the damage can be seen below.

This project is also being filmed for a documentary, so sadly, these events will be part of that.

Some other documentaries and short clips of Chris Booth’s work are here:

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/when-a-warrior-dies-1991

https://chrisbooth.co.nz/works/nga-uri-o-hinetuparimaunga-2005/

https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/audio/201816825/living-sculptures

Update - April 2022

This sculpture project at the State Highway 10/Kerikeri Road entranceway is well underway! Led by Te Runanga O Ngāti Rēhia and supported by Our Kerikeri, sees the first physical evidence of the project with the centre pole now been erected – it sure is tall and mighty!

Next will be erecting the scaffolding and placing the manu (birds) at the top of the pole, and then finally assembling the remaining parts of the sculpture.

While this has been underway, Our Kerikeri have been working hard on phase 2 of the project - the landscaping (this forms part of our contribution to the partnership). After many meetings, iterations, zooms and site visits, Waka Kotahi have now given their tick of approval to the proposed landscaping plan. You can see the landscape plan above.

The next step is to seek funding for the execution of the landscaping, which we have been in talks with a number of funders about. Agreed maintenance of the entranceway is paramount to the success of this project and we are seeking funding which will include 3 years maintenance costs. We hope that we can secure funding for phase 2 soon, so that we can finally have an entranceway fit for arguably the most strategic entranceway in the Far North, with the airport visitors coming everyday in their thousands (pre Covid) and over 11,000 traffic movements on Kerikeri Road each day.

Have feedback regarding the landscape plan? Email us at kerikeriourtown@gmail.com.

The creation of the mighty MANU - prior to being damaged

The Manu were made by Giltech which is one of the largest non-ferrous jobbing foundries in Australasia situated in Dunedin (NZ) with an ever growing base of customers in Australia and throughout the Pacific, Asia and the Middle East. Photography courtesy of STW Studi

Update - august 2021

The Te Haa o te Ao team, made up of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Rēhia, OKCCT, Chris Booth and the Project Manager, in partnership with FNDC and Waka Kotahi, have been busy over the past 8 months working on this project. We are now at the stage, subject to signing an “Agreement as to Works” from Waka Kotahi (NZTA), that construction can begin. The first step will be the installation of a 114 metre guard rail on the corner curbside. From there, the foundations will begin. Chris has been busy drilling hundreds of beautiful boulders ready for the installation.

OKCCT has been working on a landscape plan for phase 2 of the project, encompassing the roundabout itself and the corner of Wiroa Road. We have been meeting with Waka Kotahi (NZTA) regarding the proposed landscape design to ensure it meets safety standards. The biggest challenge here is ensuring the design is low maintenance because if you have driven by the roundabout over the past few years, you will see maintenance as it stands now is minimal (if at all), giving us cause for concern as to the ongoing maintenance of anything we do in this space.

We consider the entranceway to Kerikeri - the largest and fastest growing town in the Far North – to be one of the most important entranceways in the Far North. With 11,000 vehicles a day using Kerikeri Road, 110,000 visitors using the Bay of Islands Airport and more then 8,000 vehicles passing through on the State Highway, this critical stragetic asset has lacked investment in it since the roundabout was first constructed.

Far North District Council has been incredibly helpful through this process, becoming essentially a mentor to the team in terms of navigating government departments, regulations and budgetary matters. They have fully supported the project and our aim to make our entranceway unique, thought provoking and beautiful.