Rainbow’s End Rainbow Is Home in Waihi’s Heart of Gold

The iconic Rainbow from Rainbow’s End has a new home, and now the brightly coloured landmark is ready to welcome people to Waihi and possibly make the dreams they dare to dream come true!

From ‘a small project’ to a fantastic photo opportunity and eye catcher in Waihi, it’s been an interesting 18 months since GO Waihi said ‘yes, of course we’d like to take it on’.

Rainbow’s End was looking for a new home for their iconic entrance way rainbow and looked at several towns, including Waihi, ‘New Zealand’s Heart of Gold’. They contacted Hauraki District Mayor John Tregidga who got in touch with GO Waihi Coordinator Brian Gentil and the rest as they say is history. Victoria Park, or Rocket Park as locals know it, is the new home for this bright, attention-grabbing structure.

“From a supposed flat sign about 2 metres by 3 metres it turned out to be a little bit bigger; and heavier”, Mr Gentil said. “One and a half metres wide, three metres high, seven metres long and one point three tonnes, there was a bit of extra work involved”.

With just a small budget GO Waihi asked the business community for their help. ‘Not a problem, leave it with me, we’d be happy to, of course we will, I’d love to be involved, we’ll take care of that, consider it done’, was the response, and here we are, in the final stages of completing what’s really been an amazing combined effort.

First there was a structural engineer’s report to get signed off. Then Warren and the team at Carters Contractors stored it, moved it and dug the base for the foundations before craning it on to its plinths, which makes it about five metres high now.

Brownmore Construction and Firths came to the party with the foundations, concrete and workers, while Duncan Cook and Sel Baker did what builders do best and put all the framework together as we raised it on to plinths. Alitech provided all the metal strips for the joins, Mark Spiers Roofing Ltd sorted the rubber and waterproofed it and Warren and the crew at Mitre 10 Waihi came to the party with loads of wood, ply and hardware.

Resene happily supplied the paint and Charlie Skarratt, their Trade Sales Representative organised Dave Dudek and team from Waihi Beach Home Decorators to give the rainbow a fresh coat and a new sparkle.

Hauraki District Council provided safety fencing and the important advice on safety and Waihi Scaffolding Hire framed it up for the workers to do their job.

“Without everyone’s ‘will do’ attitude we just wouldn’t have been able to achieve this,” Mr Gentil said. “It really has been amazing the enthusiastic response I got from everybody. They didn’t hesitate, and I’m so grateful of their support.”

Rainbow’s End Marketing Manager Katharine Murray has been following the move with interest, knowing that after its original job of welcoming families to a fun environment at Rainbow’s End in Auckland for over 30 years, it was important to find a new home where it would continue to bring smiles to people’s faces and brighten their day.

The response from locals and visitors to the new addition to the park along the entranceway to Waihi has been extremely positive, with children and adults already taking the opportunity to stop and take photos.

A community get together on Saturday [Update: due to weather this was postponed until Saturday 4 November 25 November] from 11 am to 1 pm is an opportunity for Waihi and visitors to welcome the Rainbow, meet those who’ve helped get the job done and enjoy a fun time with a free sausage sizzle with GO Waihi, some rock hunting for family passes to Rainbow’s End, Goldfields Railway, Spikes Bricks and Models and the Gold Discovery Centre. Resene has got lots of goody bags and giveaways for kids too.

GO Waihi’s Shot of Gold Promotion is still on until the end of October. Simply take a photo of yourself, your family and friends featuring Waihi’s new rainbow, then email it to info@waihi.org.nz (one per email) with your name and contact details and you’ll go in the draw to win some more of these great prizes.
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