We visited the Sculptureum at Matakana back in early January but I am only just getting around to posting about it. Matakana is usually about an hour’s drive north of Auckland but on the day we went a combination of holiday traffic, road works, and goodness know what other delays it took us over 3 hours to get there. We had booked our tickets online for 1.00 and left around 10.30 with the intention of stopping in Matakana for lunch. We didn’t get to the Sculptureum until after 1.30 – but they were happy to let us in. Everyone was in the same boat so it was fairly chaotic. We were starving so went in search of food. The restaurant wasn’t open and the Outdoor Kitchen & Bar was packed. We ordered fish and chips but there was a 1 hour wait time, so we started our viewing of the garden area.
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- Looking toward the Outdoor Kitchen & Bar
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- Dominique and Hamish
The Sculptureum Gardens and Galleries is set in 25 acres and displays a vast array of artwork from around the world, creating a destination “designed to unlock the imagination, fuel creativity, and ignite the mind”. The hundreds of works on display have been chosen to amuse, stimulate, and inspire. Founder Anthony Grant says:
“People should take the time to reflect on things that make life better in non-material ways, on things that make life more interesting, more enriching and more enjoyable.”
Gardens
The first garden area we explore has a lot of different rock formations and quite a range of different sculptures.
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- Rocks & sculpture
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- The swing
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- Giraffe Hill
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- Handstand
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- Reading
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- Driftwood elephant
Galleries
After lunch we explored the very ecclectic mix of artworks in different mediums in the indoor galleries.
Enclosed Gardens
The galleries led outside to more garden areas, these ones more intimate and enclosed with a very different array of whimsical sculptures.
It is a fun place to visit with such a fascinating range of artworks that surely there will be something for everyone. I think it is definitely worth a drive north.
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