Napier's famous prickly icon "retiring from public life"

Kris Ericksen with niece Ingrid Glover, 9, who put a stop to the letterbox known as Mr Prickle (bottom) moving too far from the family home. Photo/Paul Taylor.

It's been a distinctive, beloved Napier icon for over a decade, surviving years of vandal attacks from having parts torn off, to being packed with explosives which had to be dealt with by the Army.

Now Taradale's iconic cactus-shaped letterbox - affectionately dubbed by locals as "Mr Prickle" - is on the move.

It sits on a Church Rd property owned by the Ericksen family, who have planned to rehome the distinctive feature since they bought the property - and Mr Prickle - in 2010.

However over the past eight years the family grew used to the green plaster cactus character. They even made the most of it by dressing the cactus up for Halloween with everything from vampire fangs, to putting a candle inside it as a sort of jack-o-lantern.

With Mr Prickle showing signs of age, Maria Ericksen said the family decided it was time for the letterbox to go to a new home: "He's been a faithful addition to Church Rd, and we're sad to see him go but times have changed".

While he will no longer stand guard outside their property, 9-year-old Ingrid put a stop to him moving too far.

"I felt the time had come, but my daughter's grown attached to him. She was so upset when she discovered we were going to see if someone else wanted to take him," Mrs Ericksen said.

"So now we're just going to move him around the back. A couple of the kids in the neighbourhood were a bit sad to see him go, but he's just going to lead a quieter life now.

"He's retiring from public life."

Mrs Ericksen imagined they would be looking to rehouse the letterbox in a couple of years and were confident when the time came he would go to good home.

Although the letterbox still receives plenty of attention - with pedestrians, and motorists stopping by to take photos with it - the vandalism has stopped.

In the 2000s attacks involved everything from small sparkler bombs and graffiti to smashing off the concrete and plaster limbs and uprooting it.

In 2007 it took a sinister, and potentially life-threatening turn when a type of plastic gel explosive and detonator was used to try to damage it.

The late-night attempt was thwarted by a neighbour, however the suspected youth culprit
escaped with the help of a getaway car.

Police were unable to track them and, after having a close look at the letterbox with wires sprouting from it, sealed off the area and called the Army for help.

Explosives experts found a golf ball-sized chunk of plastic explosive pushed into a corner of the letterbox. A detonator, with 10m-long wires attached, was stuck into it.

All it needed was an electrical charge to set it off. Had it gone off with anyone within five metres the results could have been fatal, the Army said at the time.