Playing minigolf in Lower Moutere
This special local gem, open for use in the Christmas school holidays, is tucked away within an orchard in Lower Moutere - a minigolf course in a delightful and colourful park setting, with each of the 18 holes featuring an iconic Motueka or Tasman landmark.
Motueka Mini Golf is not widely publicised but nevertheless well patronised over the holidays. It's signposted from the aerodrome and several other places on the Moutere Highway and Chamberlain Road, with an entrance sign at the driveway that leads to the hidden grove at 390 Chamberlain Street, about a mile south of the Hursthouse Road junction.
The facility was built by a previous owner many years ago but fell into disuse. The present owners decided about four years ago that it was worth getting it going again for people to enjoy, though it was not worth the time to run it throughout the year. is their main marketing tool.
The course takes about an hour to complete, depending mainly on how many groups are on the course at the time. It's especially suitable for families, though children younger than about 7 may find some holes way too hard to complete. Four people can play per group.
Certainly older children and adults will find most of the holes very challenging in their own ways. But there are enough relatively easy ones along the way to retain the focus and have lots of fun (and feel you're not a total idiot after the hard ones).
Best of all, apart from the beautiful botanical setting with the stream and waterfalls along the way, the main thing of interest is the creative use of landmark themes of Motueka and this district that everyone can immediately relate to.
Each hole is named, though many of them you could guess immediately without refering to the scorecard supplied. Some of the 18 holes include Kaiteriteri beach, a good old Kiwi quarter-acre section, Split Apple Rock (very tricky), the Heaphy Track (the hardest of all), Mount Arthur, Ngarua caves, the Kiwi long-drop, Maruia Falls, the Buller Bridge, the Motueka clocktower, and Harwoods Hole.
The catch phrase on the scorecard is surely accurate: "The best little golf course in Tasman". But these sample photos tell the story best:
