Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Santa arrives in style in Dannevirke

By Sue Emeny
Hawkes Bay Today·
2 Dec, 2019 06:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Father Christmas arrived at the Dannevirke Fantasy Cave on Sunday morning and he will be there every day until Christmas Eve.

Father Christmas arrived at the Dannevirke Fantasy Cave on Sunday morning and he will be there every day until Christmas Eve.

Father Christmas arrived at the Dannevirke Fantasy Cave in style on Sunday morning.

He arrived in a well-decorated 1930 Ford Model A owned by Graham Cheer and was welcomed by excited children.

Father Christmas shakes hands with Aaryan Sethi, 6, who visited The Cave with his mother Amita.
Father Christmas shakes hands with Aaryan Sethi, 6, who visited The Cave with his mother Amita.
 Reese Lilo-Dawson, 2, held by her grandmother Donna Johnstone, and helped by mum Nikita Johnstone, takes a treat from Santa's bag.
Reese Lilo-Dawson, 2, held by her grandmother Donna Johnstone, and helped by mum Nikita Johnstone, takes a treat from Santa's bag.

The Cavedwellers are now into their busiest time of the year in the lead-up to Christmas.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Cave will be open every day from 10am until 2pm through until December 15.

From then it will be open Monday to Friday from 10am until 4pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10am until 2pm.

The Ward family have visited Dannevirke's Fantasy Cave on December 1 every year for the last 18 years. They are, from left, Tania, Tony, Emma, Olivia and Jack.
The Ward family have visited Dannevirke's Fantasy Cave on December 1 every year for the last 18 years. They are, from left, Tania, Tony, Emma, Olivia and Jack.

The Cave was last month visited by the Tararua Tourism Networking Group.

The aim of the group is to keep tourism operators updated and to provide opportunities to share information.

The group has regular meetings and visits in order to build relationships.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Fantasy Cave Board chairman Grant Hurrell outlined the changes that had taken place over the governance of The Cave with the formation of a board and changes to the way The Cave was being promoted via Facebook, with a promotional video and the setting up of an 0800 number.

Tararua District Council economic development and communications manager Mark Maxwell said this was the first time some Tararua Tourism members had visited The Cave.

"You can now tell people all about it. We are Tararua District and we need to tell people who we are."

He said the council had approved new signs for the district and these would be revealed soon and a visitor guide had been produced.

Discover more

Scouting history on display

28 Nov 05:17 PM

Dannevirke community gets behind Guardian Angels

01 Dec 05:00 PM

Dannevirke police host White Ribbon fundraiser

01 Dec 06:00 PM

Lucky Dannevirke Lotto player wins $1 million

30 Nov 09:52 PM

He said there were many ways that visitor tourism operators could work together.

One suggestion was a train trip to Dannevirke that could include a visit to the Fantasy Cave and a Teddy Bears picnic.

"We have got things that work together but we haven't been good at that so we need to work on that.

"If people have ideas fire them at Tararua iSITE manager Carole Wilton and myself, but also talk to each other."

He thanked Hurrell and the team for opening up The Cave.

"We have just celebrated the district's 30 years and as we look to the future we have a lot to celebrate."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

School's moving day disrupted by ERO review, agency admits mistake

02 Jul 10:27 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Replacements for bulldozed state homes in heart of Napier suburb cut by Govt

02 Jul 06:17 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Go for your dreams': 22-year-old korowai maker reaching international markets

02 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

School's moving day disrupted by ERO review, agency admits mistake

School's moving day disrupted by ERO review, agency admits mistake

02 Jul 10:27 PM

Nuhaka School has been flooded twice since February 2023, disrupting classes.

Premium
Replacements for bulldozed state homes in heart of Napier suburb cut by Govt

Replacements for bulldozed state homes in heart of Napier suburb cut by Govt

02 Jul 06:17 PM
'Go for your dreams': 22-year-old korowai maker reaching international markets

'Go for your dreams': 22-year-old korowai maker reaching international markets

02 Jul 06:00 PM
Stephen Hoyle to swap NZ amateur league football for pro A-League

Stephen Hoyle to swap NZ amateur league football for pro A-League

02 Jul 05:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP