Art-in-Nature Experience
Wander along our 2km art-in-nature trail, amongst a landscape of ponds, cliffs, rocks and thousands of trees and start your creative adventure among more than 100 sculptures and installations.
This is your opportunity to join in our many activities, listen for birds, or simply share your experience with family and friends.
Our story
The Art-in-Nature Arboretum Trust runs the park, a 30+ year rehabilitation project that has transformed a derelict quarry. The park provides environmental and creative inspiration for visitors.
The arboretum’s trees are now protected long-term as a permanent forest for carbon sequestration. The park’s botanical biodiversity attracts and sustains a wide variety of native birds including our iconic ruru. The park hosts a population of short-tailed bats (pekapeka).
The park was established more than 30 years ago by its founders John and Dorothy Wakeling whose vision was to rehabilitate a disused quarry situated close to Hamilton and Cambridge and transform it into an arboretum and garden of national significance and a setting for works of art.
The park now covers 17.5 hectares and contains more than 20,000 trees and over 100 New Zealand sculptures and artworks, providing an environment to inspire the imagination, spark environmentally sustainable creativity and nourish inquisitive minds.
60 Seconds with John
Our founder, John, has a wealth of knowledge. Learn some amazing tidbits about plants and the gardens with our 60 Seconds with John series.
What some of our visitors have to say…
The Sculpture Park at Waitakaruru is a source of inspiration for art and nature lovers throughout the Waikato and all of New Zealand. It is run by a charitable trust.
Entry fees are not sufficient to cover the costs of running the park and so the trust depends on grants and donations to ensure its contInued existence.
If you are able to donate, your contribution will be gratefully received.
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