By PAUL VAN MIERT
Taupo's new internationally acclaimed garden is now open.
Reconstruction outside the Taupo Museum of the New Zealand Ora Garden of Wellbeing, which won gold at London's famous Chelsea Flower Show in 2004, is finished. The garden will be officially opened in March.
Taupo
Museum manager Karen Williams said there was still some electrical work to be completed but the garden was open for the public to see.
Last November the Friends of the Lake Taupo Museum and Art Gallery launched a fundraising drive to help bring the gold medal garden to Taupo. The $230,000 needed was raised in just six months. Donations poured in from all sectors of the community, businesses, schools, private individuals, the Taupo District Council and the Government.
The Ora Garden was designed to reflect the geothermal landscape of the Central North Island and features 1000 native plants selected for their culinary appeal, cultural significance and traditional Maori medicinal properties.
A significant feature of the garden is the moko waiwera, or hot-water lizard. A friendly guardian of the garden, it carries water from the silica terraces to the ngawha (mineral pool) and forms the basis of the Taupo Museum's new logo.
The garden also features large tree ferns, ponga sculptures, a cave, a scenic painting of Mount Tarawera and a soundtrack of Maori flute and native birdsong.
The Ora Garden is open every day at the Taupo Museum from 10.30am to 4.30pm, except Good Friday and Christmas Day.
