THE GOVERNMENT GARDENS
After Escaping to a Dangerous Area to calm down my anxious thoughts and overcome my impostor syndrome, I was feeling lighter and in the mood for some more excursion. I attended a Research Conference in Rotorua, New Zealand, and the venue was located inside the Government Gardens. After circling Sulfur Point, I found myself in the Gardens. I decided to explore the other side which I haven't gone to. The Government Gardens is a park located in the middle of Rotorua City. The name "Gardens" is appropriate because the park is full of flowers.
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Rows and rows of different flowers are planted in the Gardens. The place looked magical because of them. It's like being in a fantasy world. And the trees were as magnificent as the flowers. There were very tall and imposing trees scattered around the park. They provided the much-needed shade from the harsh sunlight of the Southern Hemisphere.
I found a spring called Rachel Spring. The water was steaming and I could only guess how hot it was. I figured they were pumping water from that hot spring and feeding it to hot baths inside a spa.
THE SCULPTURE TRAIL!
I continued my journey, and then I saw them. Sculptures, scattered around the area with ample space in between them. I saw that they stretched out for a considerable distance. I went close to the nearest one and it looked like a bird perched on a tree, but upon closer look at the sign, the title said 'The White Mouse.' I didn't really understand it, but that wasn't my goal then. I only wanted to enjoy the sculptures without being too analytical.
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I approached the next one and this sculpture was much more obvious. It looked like a woman coming out of a tree, like a dryad. The title said Geyser. Again, it wasn't my purpose to analyze their meaning. I wanted this to be an adventure of visiting all the sculptures in the garden.
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The next one looked like it should be a bird because it was placed on top of a tall wooden pole. And it had a V-shape and was covered by tree branches. The title said, Searching, which was appropriate because of how tall it was.
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The next piece was beside a body of water and its appearance was quite suggestive. I couldn't stop my mind from thinking of things that the sculpture could represent. The title of the piece is Synergy.
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I moved on to the next piece which looked complicated. It was a big bowl of rock balanced on top of another big rock that also looked like a turtle shell. The bowl was even filled with water. It was called Rivers and Lakes. Quite obvious, but still impressive.
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And then a placeholder. There was a missing sculpture. Its sign was even faced out. I wonder what happened to it. Or maybe this was part of the Sculpture Trail. A blank. To reset the experience.
MORE UNIQUE SCULPTURES!
I walked away from the missing sculpture and followed the edge of the swamp. I found perhaps my favorite sculpture. It was called, Ghost Soldier. And looking at it, you'd instantly know why. The sculpture made use of negative space and everywhere you look at it, you would always see the silhouette of the man or the 'soldier' but he's not really there, like a ghost.
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The sculptures on this side of the trail were different than the others. They looked more modern. The next one I saw was colorful and in the shape of a butterfly. But when I looked at the sign, it said the piece was called 'Just add water." Maybe it wasn't a butterfly after all.
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The next one was a massive hemisphere rock with concentric circles and a triangle sculpted on one side of it. It was purple and sort of glowing from the center because of the concentric circles. It was called Pride.
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The next one looked like a bean impaled by three long rods. The bean is actually a rock, and on its surface, there were scratches or footprints of what I think are animals. It was called Cant. High and mighty. Up in the air, impaled by its own support. Makes sense.
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The next one was patriotic. It had the big letters NZ, sculpted on it. The title card said it was called Forever Remembered and that it was given by the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust to the Rotorua people. There must be a story behind it. No time to know what it was because I had to finish going to see all the statues.
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THE MEMORIAL BRIDGE
In the last part of my Sculpture Trail, I crossed the bridge called Memorial Bridge and on the sign, it said that soldiers had their R&R when they went to Rotorua from the war, and the bridge was to commemorate the 100 years after WWI.
I left the bridge and searched for the remaining sculptures. I saw the face of a man with his hands holding his mouth wide open. It was called Greed, and that made perfect sense. I've lost count of how many sculptures I've seen, but I wanted to see more of them.
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The next piece was made of metal. And appropriately, it was called Shell because it looked like one. It was hollow inside but I could see that it was very thick. It must have weighed a lot. But I know the other rock sculptures were heavy too.
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The next piece was another geometric piece, three wooden beams supporting each other. The name of the piece was Tank Trap and it was another gift from the Rotorua Energy Charitable Fund. So that's what it was, an anti-tank obstacle used during the war.
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The penultimate sculpture I visited was a beautiful and intricate white stone piece. It was called Gathering, and I could figures of people huddling together represented by the sculpture.
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Finally, the last sculpture was called Te Awa, which means river in Maori. Two stones curving against each other with a gap between them. It was a lovely piece to complete my Art Excursion.
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My anxious thoughts at the beginning of the day were completely replaced by the lovely, interesting, and intriguing sculptures. I am impressed that Rotorua has such a wide collection of pieces that they just display outdoors without any fees or even guides. It makes the experience even more satisfying.
That's it! I'm glad to be able to continue writing this series again. I hope to be able to write more after I've settled done in my new life. I've recently relocated and the past few months leading up to it has been quite hectic.
See you around (more). Cheers!
