When our family discovered The Te Puna Quarry Park (5 -10 mins towards Auckland from Bethlehem), we all whooped in delight running from one beautiful vista to another trying not to stumble into the ponds and rivers while laughing at the structural and ceramic oddities.
This park grown from the ruins of an old quarry (obviously) sums up everything about New Zealand for me. It has a amazing variety of kitch low budget oddities surrounded by beautifal flora and fauna and amazing views of the Bay. One might find a mosaic man on one side of the glade with an upside down Santa stuck in a pond on the other. It sounds weird and it is but it works.
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