Paula and Graham Grant still can’t quite believe they were able to buy a piece of land they reckon looks like a national park.
Many visitors share their disbelief. A few leave still convinced the Grants are caretakers hired by the Department of Conservation.
The couple, originally from the Isle of Islay off Scotland’s west coast, are the new owners of Wairere Boulders, a natural attraction near Horeke famous for its jumble of giant basalt boulders in a rugged river valley.
The property was bought in the 1980s by Swiss couple Felix and Rita Schaad, who said they had no idea of the valley’s bizarre rock formations until Felix was chasing a feral goat and emerged from the bush atop a rock overlooking an almost Tolkienesque landscape. The boulders opened to the public in 2003.
