{"id":340282,"date":"2026-03-21T05:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/340282\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T05:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:29:14","slug":"rotorua-cemetery-mess-disappoints-bereaved-mum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/340282\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua cemetery ‘mess’ disappoints bereaved mum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kauae<\/p>\n

\nKauae Cemetery on Ngongotaha Road.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Mathew Nash\n<\/p>\n

Weeds growing “higher than headstones” and other recent maintenance issues at Rotorua cemeteries have left mourners disappointed.<\/p>\n

Rotorua Lakes Council says the issue is good growing conditions, rather than any cutbacks, and issues are addressed through scheduled maintenance.<\/p>\n

The council manages the Rotorua Cemetery and Crematorium on Sala Street as well as the Mamaku, Reporoa and Ng\u0101kuru cemeteries.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

It also operates and maintains Kauae Cemetery on Ngongotah\u0101 Road, although a separate board of trustees governs it.<\/p>\n

Karen Gardiner is a regular at Kauae Cemetery, making weekly visits to the grave of her daughter Kristi-Rae Ruri-Gardiner, who died in a 2010 car accident.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old was buried in the blue dress she had planned to wear at her school ball.<\/p>\n

\"Kristi-Rae<\/p>\n

\nKristi-Rae Ruri-Gardiner’s grave site at Kauae Cemetery.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n

Until Christmas, Gardiner had no complaints about the maintenance of her daughter’s resting place.<\/p>\n

But over the past few months, things had gone “backwards”.<\/p>\n

“It’s the worst I’ve seen in 15 years.<\/p>\n

“It used to get beautifully mowed all the time, but lately they’ll mow down the middle, but they’ll leave everything on the side, so you’ve got weeds growing up higher than headstones.”<\/p>\n

\"Overgrown<\/p>\n

\nOvergrown grass and weeds at Kauae Cemetery.
\nPhoto: Rotorua Notice Board\n<\/p>\n

She said it was “ridiculous” that another section of the cemetery, where the ashes of her parents and grandmother are interred, was no longer mowed regularly.<\/p>\n

Gardiner maintains the gravesite herself, but understands that others might not be able to.<\/p>\n

“Not everybody lives in Rotorua, and I think they would be gutted if they came and saw the mess that’s there at the moment.”<\/p>\n

She paid $1000 for the plot, which included maintenance as part of the overall package, she said.<\/p>\n

The conditions at Kauae and Sala St were a talking point on a popular local Facebook page last weekend after an anonymous user posted images of what they called the “neglected, overgrown and disrespected” facility.<\/p>\n

Other commenters shared their disappointment at the level of maintenance of the burial sites, calling it “disgusting”, “disgraceful” and “disappointing”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\nA photo of overgrown grass and weeds at Kauae Cemetery, posted on social media last weekend.
\nPhoto: Rotorua Notice Board\n<\/p>\n

When Local Democracy Reporting visited Kauae Cemetery on Tuesday, it appeared to have been recently maintained.<\/p>\n

Sala Street was also well maintained, other than large weeds around older headstones.<\/p>\n

Rotorua Lakes Council community experience group manager Alex Wilson confirmed council staff were at Kauae Cemetery on Monday and Tuesday mowing and weeding, as part of scheduled maintenance.<\/p>\n

Spraying was scheduled for later in the week.<\/p>\n

Wilson said she understood there had also been concerns raised about the condition of two of Rotorua’s council-managed cemeteries.<\/p>\n

\"Grass<\/p>\n

\nGrass had recently been cut at Kauae Cemetery on Tuesday.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Mathew Nash\n<\/p>\n

“We know cemeteries are deeply important places for wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n

“While overall staffing levels have not changed, we have some vacancies that we are actively working to fill.”<\/p>\n

She said there had been no changes to maintenance budgets over the past 18 months and blamed the recent growth on summer conditions.<\/p>\n

“During peak growing periods, vegetation can grow quickly.<\/p>\n

“We encourage members of the community to contact our customer service team if they notice any overgrowth at cemeteries, parks or reserves, so it can be addressed as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n

\"Weeds<\/p>\n

\nWeeds overgrow near headstones at Rotorua Cemetery and Crematorium on Sala St.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Mathew Nash\n<\/p>\n

She said plot maintenance fees paid for the “long-term upkeep” of the entire cemetery, but did not cover headstone cleaning or repairs.<\/p>\n

Cemetery and crematorium management and maintenance were previously the responsibility of Infracore, until the council-controlled organisation was reintegrated into the core council team just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

Kauae Urup\u0101\/Cemetery Trust Board trustee Kingi Biddle said nobody had approached him about the issue, but the board would work alongside the council to ensure good upkeep.<\/p>\n

“The fact it has not been brought up to us does not mean it is not happening.<\/p>\n

“Kauae has been a resting place for us long before a cemetery was there, and we want to make sure our loved ones have a safe place to rest.”<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kauae Cemetery on Ngongotaha Road. Photo: LDR \/ Mathew Nash Weeds growing “higher than headstones” and other recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":["post-340282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}