Sir Edmund Hillary Statue

Orewa is the proud home of one of two statues of the legendary mountaineer, who was the first man to scale Mount Everest, along with Sherpa Norgay Tensing in 1953, and then became a celebrated Antarctic explorer.
Though Hillary (1919 - 2008) lived and worked as a beekeeper in the Counties area to the South of Auckland, his father Percy planted Orewa's iconic Norfolk pines, and contributed to the Orewa community. The other statue is at Aoraki/Mount Cook in an entirely different climate. The juxtaposition is not incongruous with Hillarys's own life, he was a man of the snows, but also a North Islander who lived and worked in temperate climes of farm and beach. It is told that his favorite training ground in Counties where he lived was a brisk walk or run from Pukekohe to Maraetai Beach (not unlike Orewa) about 30 kilometres away.

This statue, unveiled in 1991 while Hillary was still alive, is by immigrant sculptor Chen Wei-Ming. Sir Edmund did a large amount of charity work in Nepal and India and in New Zealand his legacies include the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre.

Sir Ed Hillary Print by Fane Flaws

All we need is a picture.