Millennial Arch

This sculpture, which was designed by a local artist, and marked the dawn if the new millennium in 2000.  The piece celebrates the journey of the sun.  "Ecliptic" is the name of the path of the sun as it moves through the sky within a twelve month period.

There is a rock at its base and if you stand there on the longest day of the year, you will see the sun rise directly beneath the arch.  The sculpture is placed in such a place along Marine Parade as this is where the sun did actually rise on the first day of the new millennium.    New Zealand was the first country to see the sun of the new millennium.