A derelict quarry transformed into a thriving arboretum

The transformation of a quarry just outside of Hamilton is the culmination of 30 years’ hard graft by landowners John and Dorothy Wakeling.

The couple bought the quarry in the mid-1990s, Dorothy told RNZ’s Nine to Noon.

“We thought it had immense potential because of the landscape of cliffs and waterways and big rocks we could move around. So, we could see that we could make it into something extraordinary if we tried hard enough,” she says.

The work involved in creating Waitakaruru Arboretum turned out to be back-breaking, John took six months off work and with the help of two workers planted an acre of trees on a steep bank.

“While we were doing all that we discovered that it wasn't really soil. It was bulldozed rocks and the hillside wasn't that stable, and it was certainly very steep which made planting trees difficult,” he says.

One useful thing the quarrying operation left behind was a network of roads crisscrossing the site, Dorothy says, now used by the more than 10,000 people who visit the park each year.

Three decades on, the park is home to 25,000 trees, some endangered in their own habitats, and planted according to their origins in groupings such as Australian, Asian, South American, American, and New Zealand.

While the park now thrives, there have been plenty of mishaps along the way, John says.

“We thought it'd be wonderful to have an avenue of rimu, well they all failed bar one.

“Then we had another bright idea. The reason these trees kept failing is that it wasn't anything like soil. It was purely compacted rock to make this avenue which went down from the main driveway to the explosive shed.

"Anyway, on the third go we planted London plane trees and of course London plane trees will grow anywhere, and they'll grow successfully and they'll grow safely. So, we're really pleased that they did finally find something which grows.”

Cyclone Gabrielle also took out many trees, he says.

“The explosives shed, a legacy of quarrying days, has been kept and now serves a more romantic purpose, Dorothy says.

“So much concrete with an iron door, when we first came across it and so we thought it would be rather nice to make it into a feature. We had sort of arches cut into it and now it's sometimes used as a good wedding location.”

The arboretum is one of the country's largest outdoor galleries with more than 100 sculptures dotted throughout.

The park is now in the hands of a foundation, meaning John and Dorothy can step back a little after spending “a third of a lifetime” on the project.

“It's just been a wonderful life experience, often it's a life experience we would rather not have had, most of the time it's positive and we live in the wonderful rolling Waikato and we feel that every day it's a little bit more beautiful.”