Rotorua’s giant bunny: The story behind Hana Lodge’s Rabbit Hole sculpture

The giant Rabbit Hole sculpture at Hana Lodge has passing drivers looking twice. Photo / Annabel Reid

It’s not the Easter Bunny, but a large pink and white rabbit has been burrowing into a Rotorua hillside for two years.

Hana Lodge’s Rabbit Hole sculpture often catches the attention of drivers along Hamurana Rd, Ngongotahā.

Lodge owner and sculpture designer Cindy Hao said some locals brought their children to see it. She encouraged others to stop by this Easter for a look.

Sometimes drivers needed to look again or stop to work out what it was.

The sculpture stretches 8m and weighs about 40 tonnes, Hao said.

She would not say how much it cost, but a big bunny meant a “very big cost”.

Hao bought the lodge and surrounding properties in 2022 and 2023.

Renovations took two years.

The idea for the sculpture came from the land itself.

Hao said there were a lot of rabbits, creating holes across the hillside.

Cindy Hao, Hana Lodge owner and Rabbit Hole sculpture designer. Photo / Annabel Reid

She initially expected the project to take about six months.

Instead, it took more than two years.

She spent several monthsworking with New Zealand artists and engineers, before bringing in Rotorua local Tony Hadlow to manage the installation.

Hadlow, a graphic designer and illustrator by trade, said the sculpture was made in China and split into five sections for shipping. It arrived in Rotorua in multiple containers.

There was little instruction on how it should go back together.

Sections of the Rabbit Hole sculpture arrive in New Zealand after being shipped in pieces for installation at Hana Lodge. Photo / Supplied

Hadlow said he and a local engineer looked at it and said, “Oh, my god” about 20 times before starting.

The internal steel frame needed rebuilding before it could be joined together, he said.

The exterior is made up of cast bronze panels.

The sections were taken into town and reassembled in a yard on White St then brought back to the site.

Taking it through Rotorua drew attention, with Hadlow recalling many people saying, “What the hell is that?”

Moving it required a low loader, permits, pilot vehicles and trees along the driveway to be trimmed.

Hadlow said the size of the sculpture’s parts dictated everything and cranes were critical throughout the process.

Heavy machinery lifts the Rabbit Hole sculpture into place on the hillside at Hana Lodge. Photo / Supplied

He said the components were each lifted three or four times, before before the full structure was lifted into place using a 90-tonne crane.

“It just got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger,” he said.

Engineers calculated how to secure it safely, with about 17cu m of concrete – “roughly half a house slab” – and poured it into the foundation beneath the rabbit hole.

The land was then rebuilt around it, leaving only the back half of the rabbit visible as it burrowed into the hill.

The on-site installation took about five months, involving engineers, painters, transport crews and contractors.

“It was a team,” he said.

The hillside at Hana Lodge cut back and prepared for the Rabbit Hole sculpture installation. Photo / Supplied

Hadlow described it as a “once in a lifetime” job despite the complexity and risk of moving something so large.

He said the sculpture was still a talking point.

Hao also thought the work was all worth it.

It is the first in what Hao hopes will become a wider collection across the property. Other pieces already at the lodge include large crafted pinecones scattered beneath the trees.

She had ideas for more sculptures, creating what she hoped to be a sculpture park.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.