Rabbit Hole – Hana Lodge

Ngongotahā, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

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Animals and creatures

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Current – limited access

Checked by Project Big Things · Sep 2026

This Big Thing is still here, but public access is limited. Check the access notes for details before visiting.

A colossal pink-and-white rabbit sculpture appearing to burrow into the hillside at Hana Lodge near Rotorua.

Before you stop

Private lodge grounds: do not enter solely to photograph the sculpture without a legitimate visit or permission, and do not stop unsafely on Hamurana Road.

Limited access
Check the access notes for details before visiting
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. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Rabbit Hole – Hana Lodge

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

Site-level location · 38.0420° S, 176.2199° E

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Forty tonnes of pink-and-white rabbit appears to be burrowing headfirst into a hillside near Rotorua.

The sculpture is about eight metres long and conspicuous from Hamurana Road, on the northern shore of Lake Rotorua, and it forms part of a growing collection at Hana Lodge. Current reporting gives the weight as roughly forty tonnes – an extraordinary figure that puts it among the heaviest single objects in this catalogue and well beyond anything achievable in fibreglass.

The pose is what makes it. A rabbit standing on a lawn is decoration. A rabbit disappearing into the ground, with only its hindquarters and feet still visible, turns the hillside into part of the artwork and implies a great deal that is not shown – the burrow, the animal's intent, the absurdity of something that size going underground.

There is a local edge to the subject too. Rabbits were introduced to New Zealand in the nineteenth century and became one of the country's most destructive pests, stripping pasture across the South Island in numbers that ruined runs and prompted a century of control efforts. A giant rabbit going to ground in a New Zealand paddock is, whether intended or not, a joke about something the country has spent a very long time trying to get rid of.

Because it stands on private lodge grounds rather than public land, this record is marked access-restricted; it is visible from the road rather than approachable.

The file is empty on the material used, the installation date and the builder.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

The eight-metre, roughly 40-tonne Rabbit Hole sculpture remains conspicuous from Hamurana Road and forms part of Hana Lodge’s developing sculpture collection. A public Easter 2026 invitation demonstrated occasional casual viewing, but current evergreen access conditions are still unresolved.

ACCESS

Rabbit Hole remains a current landmark on Hana Lodge property at 415 Hamurana Road. In April 2026 the lodge owner publicly encouraged people to stop by over Easter to see it, showing that casual viewing has been permitted on at least a limited occasion. Current first-party lodge material, however, does not establish an ongoing year-round sculpture-only access policy. Direct casual navigation therefore remains withheld unless visiting as a guest, diner, event attendee or with current permission.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

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Current

Big Golf Ball – Rotorua

Rotorua, Bay of Plenty

A giant white golf ball outside Mini Golf Rotorua makes the Fairy Springs Road attraction impossible to miss and doubles as one of Rotorua’s lesser-known Big Things.

Roadside giants

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7.7 km away

✓ Recommended arrival recorded

TRANSPARENCY

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