Te Waimana o Turitea
Te Waimana o Turitea will be developed in stages, with the first phase being the Filtration Garden. This initial phase will include a 1.6-kilometre pathway, boardwalks and several research gardens, all designed to engage the public and provide space for educational programmes.
Future stages of the park will include areas like Te Ara Ranginui, a treetop walkway telling the stories of Rangi and Papa, and the Arboretum, which will be transformed into a multifunctional space for education and recreation. Each stage will be designed to integrate seamlessly with the existing landscape, providing both practical and symbolic connections to Massey’s broader sustainability goals.
The university will work closely with Rangitāne o Manawatū to embed in the garden stories that are important to tangata whenua and our region. There are opportunities to teach Rangitāne history, to showcase Māori art and culture, investigate the healing power of traditional Māori plants, and most importantly to teach kaitiaki of the land.
The Filtration Zone
The filtration zone has a high research and teaching impact and can be entered from several access points. It will form the first 'loop' walkway extending from He Ara Kotahi to the Urban Eels platform, along Poultry Farm Road and back to He Ara Kotahi.
This area has already been cleared of willow. Adding an approximate 1.6km pathway and boardwalk over the restored wetland areas will allow the public to access the area, which will be planted in natives and have approximately four research gardens built along the path with a teaching platform to allow large groups of students to gather alongside the stream.
The heartline path will then be extended beyond the filtration zone through the garden along Turitea Stream to Old West Road allowing pedestrian and cycle access through the entire space – creating a myriad of different opportunities and paths for visitors and allowing other gardens to be built off the path as funding becomes available.
Te Ara Ranginui
Te Ara Ranginui is the proposed second zone that the university would like to progress. This garden joins the filtration zone and is a treetop walkway which ascends 30 metres from the historic Craiglockhart building through a stand of (approximately) 100-year-old Kahikatea down into Te Mara Papatānūka; a walled garden which will display taonga from all around the motu. The walkway can be experienced on several different levels: it will give students and visitors access to the different canopy layers in the Kahikatea, it will tell the story of Rangi and Papa, it can be experienced purely as a high-level walkway, or it can be enjoyed as an architectural structure and artwork.
The walkway offers potential to be lit during Puanga and tell this significant story. It also serves as a platform to view Ranganui and the rising Puanga star. The area is likely to be a major attraction for schools and groups from the local area and attract environmental tourists and day-trippers.
The arboretum
The existing arboretum will be transformed with several amphitheatres that can be used as teaching platforms or as stages for plays, music festivals, weddings and other local functions. An old pond/oxbow will be reinstated to assist with drainage and the ‘diggings’ from the pond will be used to build up the stop banks of the stream which will be sculpted and used for seating around the main amphitheatre. The mature trees of the arboretum will be used for teaching students but also provide a mature park-like space for visitors.