Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Retired farmer spends 30 years building Puketapu lake for local community

Andrew Ashton
By Andrew Ashton
Hawkes Bay Today·
19 Feb, 2018 10:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Copy of a 1960 photo of Puketapu Lake, Puketapu. Written on the back of the photo was "original swamp." Owned by Roger and Diane Alexander, venue of the Puketapu Auction and Fair, The Count

Copy of a 1960 photo of Puketapu Lake, Puketapu. Written on the back of the photo was "original swamp." Owned by Roger and Diane Alexander, venue of the Puketapu Auction and Fair, The Count

In true "Field of Dreams" style, a man-made lake in rural Napier is becoming an unexpected visitor attraction, thanks to one man's three-decade-long effort to "tidy up" a swamp.

After buying a swampy paddock with wife Diane, retired sheep and beef farmer Roger Alexander said he started building the lake on Puketapu Road because he "needed something to do".

"I bought this property in 1978 and the area here was swamp - it's always been swampland.

"I thought to myself, 'This is an eyesore for Puketapu' and 'Puketapu deserves better than this'. So, I thought I would tidy it up a bit and make it look more respectable for the entrance to the village."

Following a serious drought in 1983, he started earthmoving to try to build a lake.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

'It was a tremendous job because when you're dealing with a swamp, you are dealing with mud all the time. It took 30 years to build the lake. It was a mammoth job building it - mammoth - because you had to go round slowly building it."

Roger Alexander, builder of  Puketapu Lake, venue of the Puketapu Auction and Fair. PHOTO / DUNCAN BROWN
Roger Alexander, builder of Puketapu Lake, venue of the Puketapu Auction and Fair. PHOTO / DUNCAN BROWN

The majority of the property around the lake had been built up by about three feet as a result of the mud and dirt removed.

"It takes a long time to do all that with diggers and scrapers. And every time you did a round you have to leave it to dry out - and then, of course, we put the islands in - and those sank.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There's so many problems that you don't even think of when you're building a lake out of a swamp but it worked in the end.

"We gradually got there though. It's all worked out really well. It's also given us another 20 acres of grazing land, which was just swamp before, and it has given us a 10 acre lake of nice water for the birdlife - and the birdlife just love it.

"We have a huge range of birds here."

Mr Alexander said a group of spoonbills visited the lake, as did an occasional white heron. A group of 14 white swans had also made the lake their home.

Tourists and visitors had also started arriving to see the birdlife.

"It's turned into quite a showplace now. There's always cars stopping and people taking pictures nowadays."

On Sunday, for the third successive year, Mr Alexander's lakeside property and grounds will host the Puketapu Country Fair and Auction, which will raise money for the Rotary Club of Taradale, as well as the Puketapu School and the township's parish church.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP