{"id":361117,"date":"2026-04-03T00:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/361117\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T00:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:39:08","slug":"rotoruas-giant-bunny-the-story-behind-hana-lodges-rabbit-hole-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/361117\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua\u2019s giant bunny: The story behind Hana Lodge\u2019s Rabbit Hole sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sculpture stretches 8m and weighs about 40 tonnes, Hao said.<\/p>\n

She would not say how much it cost, but a big bunny meant a \u201cvery big cost\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hao bought the lodge and surrounding properties in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Renovations took two years.<\/p>\n

The idea for the sculpture came from the land itself.<\/p>\n

Hao said there were a lot of rabbits, creating holes across the hillside.<\/p>\n

\" Cindy Hao, Hana Lodge owner and Rabbit Hole sculpture designer. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n

She initially expected the project to take about six months.<\/p>\n

Instead, it took more than two years.<\/p>\n

She spent several monthsworking with New Zealand artists and engineers, before bringing in Rotorua local Tony Hadlow to manage the installation.<\/p>\n

Hadlow, a graphic designer and illustrator by trade, said the sculpture was made in China and split into five sections for shipping. It arrived in Rotorua in multiple containers. <\/p>\n

There was little instruction on how it should go back together. <\/p>\n

\" Sections of the Rabbit Hole sculpture arrive in New Zealand after being shipped in pieces for installation at Hana Lodge. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Hadlow said he and a local engineer looked at it and said, \u201cOh, my god\u201d about 20 times before starting.<\/p>\n

The internal steel frame needed rebuilding before it could be joined together, he said.<\/p>\n

The exterior is made up of cast bronze panels.<\/p>\n

The sections were taken into town and reassembled in a yard on White St then brought back to the site.<\/p>\n

Taking it through Rotorua drew attention, with Hadlow recalling many people saying, \u201cWhat the hell is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving it required a low loader, permits, pilot vehicles and trees along the driveway to be trimmed.<\/p>\n

Hadlow said the size of the sculpture\u2019s parts dictated everything and cranes were critical throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\" Heavy machinery lifts the Rabbit Hole sculpture into place on the hillside at Hana Lodge. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

He said the components were each lifted three or four times, before before the full structure was lifted into place using a 90-tonne crane.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Engineers calculated how to secure it safely, with about 17cu m of concrete \u2013 \u201croughly half a house slab\u201d \u2013 and poured it into the foundation beneath the rabbit hole.<\/p>\n

The land was then rebuilt around it, leaving only the back half of the rabbit visible as it burrowed into the hill.<\/p>\n

The on-site installation took about five months, involving engineers, painters, transport crews and contractors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\" The hillside at Hana Lodge cut back and prepared for the Rabbit Hole sculpture installation. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Hadlow described it as a \u201conce in a lifetime\u201d job despite the complexity and risk of moving something so large.<\/p>\n

He said the sculpture was still a talking point.<\/p>\n

Hao also thought the work was all worth it.<\/p>\n

It is the first in what Hao hopes will become a wider collection across the property. Other pieces already at the lodge include large crafted pinecones scattered beneath the trees.<\/p>\n

She had ideas for more sculptures, creating what she hoped to be a sculpture park.<\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sculpture stretches 8m and weighs about 40 tonnes, Hao said. She would not say how much it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,1558,4057,15436,190183,501,171628,156,13313,69206,85274,22528,296,302,3242,47758,111,139,69,10492,35495,1327,38715,2194,427,223,16550,1530],"class_list":["post-361117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-been","tag-behind","tag-bunny","tag-burrowing","tag-design","tag-easter","tag-entertainment","tag-giant","tag-hana","tag-hillside","tag-hole","tag-into","tag-its","tag-large","tag-lodges","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pink","tag-rabbit","tag-rotorua","tag-rotoruas","tag-sculpture","tag-story","tag-the","tag-white","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361117","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=361117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}