Are you needing to bring a little joy back into your day? Take a stroll through Tauranga’s city centre and you’ll uncover interactive installations like an in-ground trampoline, a crazy mirror, high-five hands, and a bunny ears bead rail.
Downtown Tauranga is now also home to three vibrant pavement murals designed to inject fun and playfulness into everyday city walks.
Commissioned by Tauranga City Council and painted by local muralist Sarah Jo Cornish, the interactive murals are part of a wider programme designed to create playful routes through the city centre, said TCC urban centres development manager Emily McLean.
The Desert Hop mural on Elizabeth St near the Grey St roundabout has a desert theme with prickly cactus plants to dodge among the sand dunes. Photo / Brydie Thompson
“Our goal is to help families ‘play along the way’ as they move between carparks, bus stops and popular destinations like the waterfront playground, making the journey a more joyful experience for everyone,” McLean said.
Inspiration
“We drew inspiration from childhood games like ‘the floor is lava’, incorporating these playful elements that encourage jumping, hopping, and imaginative play.”
The footpath murals are strategically positioned near the parking building entrances at Spring St and Elizabeth St, and near to the Dive Crescent carpark, making walking from these areas a bit more fun.
Designed to turn footpaths into engaging experiences, the murals invite movement and add pockets of surprise and delight, McLean said.
Cornish said she was approached for the project after being recommended by Ellie Smith, the council’s head of public art, who’d previously seen her work at a school in Pāpāmoa.
“They wanted something vibrant, fun, and playful – and my style suited where they were going,” Cornish said. “The council had done temporary ‘the floor is lava’ and ‘the floor is water’ stickers that were popular but didn’t last long, so this was about creating something more permanent.”
Joshua Coley, 5, interacts with the sharks and water-themed mural on Dive Crescent near Bobby's Fish n Chips. Photo / Brydie Thompson.
Each mural features a unique theme, including a desert cactus scene conceptualised by Cornish, who was given full creative freedom on that design, as well as plenty of freedom in the other designs around interpreting council’s brief.
Colourful and bright
“They told me to make them colourful and bright. I chose a palette that’s not too intense, with intentional shading and colour matching to keep everything cohesive.”
Cornish spent around eight days on each mural, layering paint to ensure bold, bright colours and to increase durability. She used a gritted, non-slip base coat to ensure safety for users.
The two larger murals measure 2m by 6m with all three covering a total of 36m2.
This was her first time painting on the ground. “I’d love to do more because it’s very fun – maybe even designs that spill from the wall on to the floor.”
Muralist Sarah Jo Cornish painting ‘The Floor is Lava’ mural at the corner of Spring St and Durham St. Photo / Brydie Thompson
Cornish has been working as ‘The Lazy Mermaid’ muralist for a little more than a year but had already completed nearly a dozen murals on various surfaces, including interior and exterior walls, garden walls, shipping containers, and now pavements. She said the city centre experience was particularly rewarding.
“The overwhelming majority of people are very willing to be really kind, complimentary, interested and engaged.
“It was so lovely to interact with so many people. A man ran up in a suit the other day when I was painting the lava one and said: ‘Oh, I just wanted to say thank you because me and my kids were in the city on the weekend, and they absolutely loved the one down by Bobby’s Fish and Chips. Thank you’. That has been so lovely and to see how much life has been brought into the city in general and then to be a part of it.”
Cornish now planned to upskill by earning her working-at-heights licence to tackle even larger projects and was seeking out her next big wall.
All ages (
McLean said the three murals support the council’s vision of creating a city centre that is welcoming and fun for people of all ages.
Sarah Jo Cornish with the ‘high five’ hands installation hanging above the pavement at the corner of Spring St and Durham St. Photo / Brydie Thompson
“We know that kids, and the young at heart, love to jump and tap awning signs as they move through the city, so we have also installed the colourful ‘high five hands’ on Durham and Spring streets, alongside the parking building.
“The colourful hands swing when you hit them, and some are a bit higher to create an extra challenge.
“The heart of our city is reawakening, becoming a vibrant, inclusive, and welcoming place to live, work, learn, and play. Interactive play elements like these bring more colour and energy to our city centre, while promoting playful activity and connection with the spaces we move through every day.”
The Play along the Way map. Image / Tauranga City Council.
Tauranga residents and visitors can enjoy Cornish’s creations – colourful stepping stones of play scattered through the heart of the city, along with other play elements – listed on a ‘play along the way’ map, council’s What’s on Tauranga website.