Wednesday, January 14th, 2009.
The large penguin rescue pool cracked yesterday, a quick fibreglass patch then we needed to refill 5,000 litres of saltwater. Boynton Freight from Opotiki came to the rescue and refilled it for us. Big thanks to Frank Boynton, owner and operator. New arrivals in the Fsh and Reptile room, some tropical marine fish for the fish only system. A Stars and stripe puffer fish, a Foxface Rabbitfish and a pair of Maroon Clownfish, cousins of "Nemo".
Don't forget we are still looking for someone to co-ordinate our volunteers on a regular basisVolunteers'Page.   
Friday, January 9th, 2009.
Sorry for the late update but it has been a hectic start to the2009 year with baby animals everywhere and rescue animals etc.pouring in the door.Tui's, Kereru (wood pigeon), Morepork andvarious seabirds while also keeping up with the rest of the animalsto maintain. A new 3 cubic metre fish tank is being constructedto house 2 new iridescent sharks and our Arowanas, these sharksare a type of catfish from Asia and are around a metre long. Wehave young Newts being raised in the office along with some newmarine fish that arrived courtesy of Llewellyn off the fnzas forums.There is a new baby Bearded Dragon called Odin (as he only hasone eye) and a multitude of locusts donated by Kylie for lizardfood. A lot of thanks to hand out to those who have visited usover the holiday period and those volunteers who have popped into lend a hand on the park, a special thanks to "Kaz"who has setup and maintained this website for us while also tryingto push us in the right direction as to marketing and runningthe property, she is moving on to realise her dreams and pursuesome career goals in the comingyear, Good luck to her with her future. We are still looking for a volunteer co-ordinator Volunteers'Page.   
Monday November 3, 2008.
Some of the Living Art Volunteers discovered just how much work is involved in keeping the Park tidy yesterday. At a Working Bee held from 10.00am - 12.00pm we planned to start on this path on the way to the exotic birds, then work our way up past the turtles and on towards the turkeys. It took us two hours just to weed this one tiny patch of the Park! It gave everyone a new appreciation of the work Mark and Caroline put in, with mostly just the two of them struggling to keep 7 hectares (that's about 17 acres) looking tidy. And don't forget they have to feed all the animals and keep all the enclosures tidy too! If you want to help out at the next Working Bee, you can sign up to be a volunteer on the Volunteers' Page.
Everyone was delighted yesterday to discover that the Park is literally teaming with new babies at the moment - chickens and ducklings are running around everywhere, some of whom are just a couple of days old. There are baby guinea pigs in the Petting Zoo, as well as four absolutely adorable baby black and white rabbits, so make sure you come down and meet them. And while you're down, see if you can spot the few exotic birds who are now free flying around the Park.
Regular visitors to the Park will be delighted with our next bit of news - Zazu has a girlfriend. Cosmo was donated to the Park by Jo Carrel, and lost no time making the moves on Zazu. After a whirlwind courtship they are now living together, and seem to be very happy in each other's company. Check them out on YouTube.
Wednesday October 15, 2008.
OOPS! When there are so many people involved in a day like the Open Day it is easy, if somewhat unforgiveable, to miss out on thanking people. So, with a grovelly apology for forgetting you, a BIG THANK YOU to Charlene and Marie for baking and selling muffins on the day. (And very tasty they were too!)
Sunday October 12, 2008.
WOW! What an incredibly successful Open Day we had yesterday, with people pouring into the Park throughout the day. The final tally of people was just under 3,000, Mark lost count at 563 cars, and we raised $2553!!! Oer $850 came in as donations, $426 was raised by the sausage sizzle, and $220 at the Garage Sale, with the rest coming from drink, food, and souvenir sales.
For many, Clarry, one of our white cockatoos, was the star of the show, and spent much of the day surveying his domain from the dead tree stump outside the office. That said, kids were delighted by the Petting Zoo, and everyone was astounded by the amount of material that is now in the Natural History Museum in the Reptile Room. Many families brought a picnic lunch down which they enjoyed by the Lake, or in the BBQ area, and kids loved exploring the Fernery and Bush Walk. Visitors were astounded by the amount and variety of animals at the Park, and about how much is on offer at Living Art.
One of the most frequently heard comments was "We had no idea there was so much down here to see and do", which reminded us of a visitor who once compared Living Art to the Tardis, stating "It's much bigger on the inside". Visitors who had been before, but a while ago, were astounded by the amount of work that has gone on at the Park over the last year - particularly within the Reptile Room and Aquarium.
The Park would like to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who helped make the Park such a successful day. A big thank you to The Weekend Sun who ran a story about the upcoming Open Day - and a special thank you to Alexa from the Sun who spent the entire day volunteering at the Park running the Garage Sale for us with Ingrid. Another HUGE THANK YOU to all the other volunteers who helped out on the day - Alan, Chris, Courtenay, Heather, Hillary, Jethro, Kaz, Leon, Lewis, Mike & Fiona and Family, and a thank you to the 15 people who signed up to become volunteers at the Park in the future. Thanx, also, to all the Greerton retailers who handed out flyers promoting the Open Day - many people turned up at the Park clutching the flyers - and thanx also to Emma, who organised for us to have 2,000 flyers delivered at the Mount and Papamoa.
If you missed out on the Open Day, why not come down and see what everyone else is now talking about? We're open 10.00am to 6.00pm seven days a week, and entry is much cheaper than taking the family to McDonalds or the movies!
PHOTOS FROM THE OPEN DAY (click for enlargements and details):
Tuesday September 30, 2008.
Living Art is having a Working Bee this coming Saturday October 4, to get the Park looking spic and span for the Open Day and Garage Sale the following Saturday, on October 11.
The Working Bee has been organised by members of the Federation of New Zealand Aquatic Societies, but members of the public are welcome to come down and help out too. Areas being worked on include the Fernery, Simba’s paddock (the big dog), the area surrounding the carpark (removal of old building material), fence construction, weeding and tidying of paths, pruning of trees, and repairing the playground.
Those who want to help can just bring themselves, or can come armed with building tools, nails, timber (treated preferably), rakes, spades, shovels, wheelbarrows, strong footwear, gloves, old clothes, blower vacs, weed eaters, water blasters, machetes, slashers, loppers, secateurs, etc. People are welcome to bring chainsaws, but must have the appropriate safety equipment and must also hold a chainsaw licence.
The Working Bee will be kicking off about 10.00am, but people are welcome to come throughout the day to help out.
Wednesday September 24, 2008.
We have just added the first four videos of some of our animals to the website: a Lady Amherst pheasant, a little blue penguin, an arawana fish, and Morpheus, our new stud ram lamb. You can check them out on the Animals Page.
If you have been to Living Art and have taken some exceptional photographs or videos you would like to share, check out the Visitor Photographs and Videos Page to submit your images.
The little blue penguin who was brought in on August 24 by the Papamoa Vet Clinic has been nursed back to health by Caroline at Living Art and safely returned to the wild. Now she is nursing a tui back to health with an injured wing - who in just a few short weeks has learnt to talk off the other birds in the office! Once his wing has healed he, too, will be returned to the wild.A few days ago we found a little white bunny on the driveway, with no idea where he came from. One of the guinea pigs is nursing a litter at the moment, so we poppoed the bunny in with her, and she is now nursing the bunny, as well as keeping a watchful eye on a chicken. We're very multicultural at Living Art!
 
On the topic of guinea pigs, we have another rather large family of guinea pigs in the Petting Zoo too who are available for you to come down and meet and interact with. There seem to be six or seven babies, depending on how accurately you count them.
Ra and Isis, two of our bearded dragons, are soon to become parents, with Isis in the later stages of pregnancy. We'll let you kow once she has delivered. She will lay a clutch of 7 - 16 oblong leathery eggs, which she will then incubate for around three months.
 
Living Art is holding an Open Day on Saturday October 11 as a thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last few months, and as an opportunity for those who have never been to come and see what Living Art is all about. And, of course, a chance for those who have been to come back again and see what has changed since your last visit.
Entries are still coming in for our Name the Lambs competition - make sure you get yours in before the end of next weekend. And if you live in Tauranga, try and get down to the Park this weekend as it looks like we may actually be having a fine weekend - touch wood, touch wood.
Wednesay August 27, 2008.
 A number of people have asked for flyers to print out and distribute about the Park, which can be downloaded from here:
Flyer about Living Art - A4 - colour
Flyer about Living Art - A4 - black and white
Flyer about Living Art - A5 - colour
Flyer about Living Art - A5 - black and white
Flyer about Living Art - A6 - colour
Flyer about Living Art - A6 - black and white
You may also like to download a flyer about our "Name the Lambs" competition we are running. (Entries close September 7, 2008.)
Name the Lambs Competition - A4 - colour
Name the Lambs Competition - A4 - black and white
******* ******* ******* ******* *******
On the 24th Jill Parry from The Sandy Walkers Group came to the Park and donated $1000 towards the upkeep
of the penguin rehabilitation pool. Just 10 minutes later the Papamoa Vet Clinic brought in an injured
penguin! The penguin will be in rehab for about a fortnight before being returned to the wild, and visitors are welcome to come
and watch him in the rehab area.
 
In the midst of all this Living Art has been delighted to welcome three new residents to the Park - arapawa lamb twins, who are now two weeks old, and another arapawa lamb, who is just three days old. The Park is still open to visitors from 10.00am to 6.00pm, seven days a week. so why not come down and meet them?
  
Saturday August 16, 2008.
The phone has been running red hot over the last few days - on Friday Mark picked up the phone to discover "You have 63 new messages" of support, hundreds of e-mails of support have come in, as well as many letters from school children upset at the impending closure of the Park. Living Art sees around 1500 school children a year visit in school groups.
If anyone would like to make a donation towards helping out the park and for the formation of the Charitable Trust, the account number is:
06-0491-0064112-25 (National Bank).
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