Gibbs Sculpture Farm

And the final blog from out Northland travels. Click on the photos to enlarge. 

You'll recall I was offered a free ticket to an open day at Gibbs Sculpture Farm by our neighbours at the Muriwai Holiday Park. They'd bought tickets for two days just in case the weather wasn't great on the first day. 

Gibbs Farm, Kaipara Harbour

They headed off on a lovely sunny day, the next day- my day- wasn't so good; overcast, grey & threatening rain but I hardly noticed. I was out the door early & one of first in the car queue through into a top paddock carpark (no surprises there). 

Rakaia 1996/1997. Peter Nicholls

Gibbs Farm is an expansive open-air sculpture park on the edge of the Kaipara Harbour, north of Auckland. It has the greatest collection of large-scale outdoor sculptures in the country with works by some of the world's most renowned artists. The sculpture park took 24 years to create & employs over 28 people.

‘Horizons’ (1994), Neil Dawson

I once heard Neil Dawson, the artist of  Horizons talking about his work. He said it like a curved piece of corrugated iron, from an old farm tank, that has sprung loose and blown in the wind to settle on the hilltop. And it sure looked like that. Added to the surreal scene, yaks & rare breeds of horned sheep grazed on the slopes below the sculpture.  Dawson is also famous for The Chalice in Cathedral Square, Christchurch.

‘Te Tuhirangi Contour’ (1999-2001), Richard Serra

Gibbs Farm, Kaipara Harbour

The park is only open to the public a few days each year and the owner Alan Gibbs (entrepreneur, businessman & art collector) generously allows local charities to run the open days & fundraise selling tickets.

Red Cloud Confrontation in Landscape 1996. Leon van den Eijkel

Pyramid (Keystone NZ) 1997. Sol

It was great to get there early to take photos before there were too many people swarming in, around & over some of the more popular sculptures. Although a few hundred people soon disappear in the landscape.

Tickets Please- Otis the Ostrich 2019 (I named him)

By far the most popular exhibit, going by the strung out rows of tiny ant like people making a beeline for it, was 'Dismemberment', looking like a gigantic red megaphone high up on a hill.

‘Dismemberment, Site 1’ (2009). Anish Kapoor.

The farm covers over 400 hectares of rolling hills & a good level of fitness and sturdy footwear are required if you want to get up close & personal with the sculptures.

‘Dismemberment, Site 1’ (2009), Anish Kapoor.

I wonder how many people noticed the art work 'Green & White Fence (1999-2001), Daniel Buren', it contains fence posts painted, well, green & white, & placed at 4 metre intervals and is 3.2km long. I found it pretty hard capturing the whole sculpture but you can see it in the two photos below! 😁

At the top of the hill- Sea/Sky Kaipara (1994) Graham Bennett

Sculptures are located high on hilltops, down on slopes, tucked into gullies and in paddocks beside the harbour. 

A Fold in the Field (2013) Maya Lin (yes, it's those mounds in the paddock)

There is no public entry to this part of the farm but it looks like there's a fair bit going on down there. I wonder if that is where the private full-scale wild west farm complete with saloon is located. Although it looks more like a island resort to me. Someone will know.

And there's that fence again.

It is a large farm and it takes at least four hours to follow the sculpture trail.

‘88.5° ARC x 8’ (2012), Bernar Venet

There are even a few sculptures located out on the Kaipara harbour mudflats that can be viewed from a few locations along the walk- I didn't manage to see any. 

Gibbs Farm, Kaipara Harbour

‘Te Tuhirangi Contour’ (1999-2001), Richard Serra.

The farm also includes quite a surprising number of exotic animals such as zebra, bison, buffalo, yaks, giraffe & an assortment of rare & unusual breeds of cattle, sheep & goats.

Buffalo- Mumma & her son

One of us is not like the other- Jeff the Giraffe gets a lick from the Gibbs Farm dominant real life male giraffe (salt forms on the sculpture from the salt laden Kaipara Harbour air). There are 3 male giraffes, they are big animals and very tall, it's just that Jeff is much taller!

Giraffe (2011-2012), Jeff Thomson

The giraffe are the only remaining Rothschild giraffe in New Zealand and Gibbs Farm is a registered zoo with suitably qualified staff taking care of all the animals.

I'm sure the animals hate open days- they are contained in smaller paddocks & yards

The ponds have fish in them and various types of waterfowl congregating lakeside. 

Easy K (2005) Kenneth Snelson & Red Square (1994), Richard Thompson

I had a fantastic time exploring the farm, visiting most of the sculptures and saying hello to some of the more friendly animals...

Umbrella Ostrich 2019

Towards the end I wanted to reverse my route & revisit some of the sculptures again, see them in a different light, capture them at a different angle but sadly time was up and groups of tired, bedraggled people dragging their feet (it had rained on & off), slowly made their way back up the hill to the top carpark. Those that were in the bottom carpark had already climbed to the top in the morning. 

‘Dismemberment, Site 1’ (2009). Anish Kapoor.

If you ever get the chance I'd highly recommend a visit to Gibbs Farm. The farm & artworks might be privately owned by a very wealthy businessman but he very generously shares this magnificent landscape with visitors through the open days. You won't be disappointed. 

And a huge thankyou to the lovely visiting Dutch couple who gave me one of their tickets, it was very much appreciated & enjoyed. 

‘Dismemberment, Site 1’ (2009). Anish Kapoor.

‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (2017), Gerry Judah.

Floating Island of Immortals (2006), Zhan Wang

What do you think? Did I managed to capture 3.2km of THAT fence?

‘88.5° ARC x 8’ (2012), Bernar Venet

Back from a wee break- Melbourne; Part 1

Real-time

Yes, it really is me. I have returned. TWO whole months without a blog, I can't believe it! That certainly wasn't in my plans when I said I'd be gone for a few weeks. But to be honest, I have enjoyed the extended break with no pressure to write or take photos...if you don't count Dad (#1 fan) asking every second day when there'll be a blog. He gave up after 3 or 4 weeks.

Melbourne

And I've actually needed the extra time this past couple of weeks as I've had not one but two heavy winter colds, the second one a real doozy. We tend to usually miss the winter ills when we're on the road because we don't mix with the masses too often. But after three winters my luck finally ran out.

I left you in the last blog with a photo of us parked up beside Mum & Dads' in suburban Napier. And that is still where we are, although us and the rig- separately & together- have vacated the concrete pad several times during the last two months.

It started with a two week trip to Melbourne to meet our latest grandchild, a very sweet & chilled out little man called Otis.

Can you believe it, I took my camera but it hardly saw the light of day. I mostly used my phone camera (until someone spotted a cracked lens), and then David's phone. It was lovely to just relax with the family and enjoy some quality time with Lizzie, Jake & Otis. David celebrated his birthday while we were there, here's Otis with Poppa, don't you just love the look he's giving David..... "Poo, was that you Poppa?"

We stayed in a hotel just 500mtrs from the family's townhouse which suited us all fine; we had our own space, they weren't tripping over us 24/7 and it was just a short walk there and back each day, or several times a day. This was the view of Melbourne city from our hotel window, it reminded me a little of the opening shot of the TV programme 'Coronation Street'.

We took the tram & train (both just a couple of streets away) into the city on several occasions; more for a wander around and to have lunch overlooking the Yarra River than to shop though. 

Southbank

Most days were overcast until early afternoon when the clouds parted and the sun shone down although it was bitterly cold every day, you couldn't go outside without a jacket. It is much colder than winter in the North Island and the top of the South.

The Preston Market was just a short walk from Lizzie & Jakes' home and we often pushed Otis in his stroller down there, had a coffee and a pastry and then bought fresh veges, fruit, meat or seafood for dinner. David & I thought the Seafood Market was amazing, so much fresh fish and variety available.

Jake is an excellent cook and we were extremely lucky that he wanted to cook dinner for us most nights, and this was after his long day of work and fighting traffic.

Pork Belly

Crispy Skin Salmon

On the weekend we squashed ourselves into the car (the baby seat took up so much room!) and drove out of the city, up and over the hills and into the Yarra Valley an hour away, stopping for a wine tasting at the kid's favourite winery, TarraWarra Estate...

...and then we had a long lunch just down the road at Healesville, a very popular country town and gateway to the Yarra Valley wine region. Then it was onto Four Pillars, a gin distillery, for a gin tasting! 

After smelling the aromatics, we tasted the gins. Who knew there were so many flavours of gin available, from right to left; Dry, Navy Strength (58.8% ALC!!), Spiced Negroni, Chardonnay Barrel, Sherry Cask & Bloody Shiraz. Can you guess which one I liked? No not the Chardonnay one surprisingly, it was the Navy Strength that got my vote.

We hadn't seen any wildlife except for a few kangaroos in a paddock as we drove home from the Yarra Valley so I talked Lizzie & David into heading to the zoo for a visit. I'm not a fan of zoos (although I know many have their place in conservation) but I recall enjoying a visit to the Melbourne Zoo some 20 years ago so off we headed. Wrong move. Not only was the zoo quite tired looking, it was school holidays and the place was packed solid with laughing, screaming, yelling, crying, running kids. The queues were long and we bypassed several exhibits.

I did enjoy watching three young male lions; one reminded me so much of my cat Lily when she ambushed her brother Clay. This one spotted his brother on the other side of the enclosure, ambling along the fence line...

...and then as the brother headed towards him he prepared to pounce, wriggling his backside likes cats do, as he shot over the log and onto his brother's back right below my window (hence no photo!).

I was also fascinated by this beautiful snow leopard, there are three at the zoo but just this one was visible. She looks like the cat that got the cream with her fat cheeks here. I think she might have been calling just as I took the shot. Their tails are very long and fat, it helps with balance and as she climbed down a very steep rock face from her perch I could see how she used it.

It started raining as I was watching her and something else caught my eye and hers, a big fat rat scampering along the edge of a small stream that ran through the enclosure. It disappeared under a rock and out of sight before she moved.

Before we knew it, it was time to say a sad goodbye and head home. We had an awesome time and absolutely loved spending time with the family and especially getting know our happy little bub Otis. 

To be continued.... Part 2