Jandal on the Mandel

Kopu, Waikato, New Zealand

Public art

✓

Current

Checked by Project Big Things · Aug 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A giant jandal sculpture and seat beside the Hauraki Rail Trail between Kopu and Thames.

Before you stop

Do not stop at the landmark itself. Use the arrival information below.

Use only signed public trail parking; do not use neighbouring industrial/business yards or block accessways.

Check where to stop
No arrival point is cleared for direct navigation yet

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Arrival details not yet cleared

We have researched the approach, but no stopping point is cleared for direct navigation yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. Do not stop at the landmark; use the recommended arrival if stopping.

Jandal on the Mandel

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Approximate location · 37.160° S, 175.540° E

FIELD GUIDE

The story

It is a giant bronze jandal, it is also a seat, and it was the first of ten sculptures planned along the rail trail.

Ricks Terstappen made Jandal on the Mandel, and it stands on the Kopu–Thames section of the Hauraki Rail Trail near the Thames end. The New Zealand Cycle Trail records it as the very first artwork installed on that stretch, alongside later additions including The Spheres by the Paeroa artist Mark Hayes and Bruce Harper's Penny Farthing.

The unveiling says something about how these things actually happen. The sculpture was blessed by kaumātua Wati Ngamane, and speeches came from the mayor, the community board, a waste and environmental services company, the rail trail organisation, the artist and the public art trust – six separate bodies for one bronze jandal. That is what a lot of behind-the-scenes work between local organisations looks like when it finally arrives.

Making it a seat is the good decision. A cycle trail needs places to stop, and a sculpture that is also furniture earns its keep twice – riders use it whether or not they care about art.

The subject is well judged for the audience. Jandals are the national footwear and the least appropriate possible thing to cycle in, which gives the joke a small edge for anyone arriving on a bike.

It sits near 366 Ngāti Maru Highway, just south of the Thames airport entrance.

Neither the sources nor the catalogue give its age and the measurements.

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PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

Creative Coromandel and the New Zealand Cycle Trail both confirm Ricks Terstappen’s large bronze Jandal on the Mandel remains a prominent trail-side public artwork on the Kopu–Thames section of the Hauraki Rail Trail. Contemporary specialist coverage places it in the vicinity of 366 Ngāti Maru Highway, just south of the Thames airport entrance.

ACCESS

Jandal on the Mandel is a public trail-side artwork on the Kopu–Thames section of the Hauraki Rail Trail, towards the Thames end and in the vicinity of 366 Ngāti Maru Highway. The current coordinate is retained only as an approximate corridor anchor; PBT does not claim a site-level or exact sculpture pin. There is no direct vehicle destination.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

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Current

Giant Oystercatcher – Kaiaua

Kaiaua, Waikato

A giant variable oystercatcher sculpture marking Kaiaua’s shorebird coast.

Roadside giants

22 km away

✓ Recommended arrival recorded

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

Creative Coromandel – Jandal on the Mandel

Creative Coromandel · recorded 2026-08-23

Regional arts organisation documents the giant trail-side sculpture and unveiling.

Tourism

Department of Conservation – Hauraki Office at 3/366 Ngāti Maru Highway

Department of Conservation New Zealand · recorded 2026-09-11

First-party evidence that 366 Ngāti Maru Highway is an industrial/agency property address. This supports treating the secondary 366 address for Jandal on the Mandel only as nearby corridor context, not as an object coordinate.

Official

New Zealand Cycle Trail – Art on the Great Rides

New Zealand Cycle Trail · recorded 2026-08-23

Tourism

What we're still checking

Preferred visitor parking/photo arrival has not yet been independently verified.

Open-licence image search completed 24 August 2026. No defensible reusable image with file-level commercial-use provenance was verified in the completed Commons, government/open-licence and archival/open-collection sweep.

Jandal on the Mandel is confirmed on the Kopu–Thames Hauraki Rail Trail, but the current coordinate is only an approximate corridor anchor and no site-level/exact sculpture pin is claimed.

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