Hundreds of families painting rocks in lockdown have been waiting until Alert Level 2 to hide them.
From this morning, Kiwis will hide around 15,000 painted rocks across New Zealand parks.
They will hide them in trees, under bridge railings, and in nooks and crannies in popular parks and paths around the country.
Simon Oosterman, part of a local Auckland rock painting group, said it's finally safe to go out and scatter them for people to find.
"Basically because of the lockdown no one has felt able to go and hide rocks because of the fear of catching Covid.
"So people have been painting rocks at home and gathering them up over lockdown," he says.
Certain parks across the country are well-known for hidden rocks - for instance, Cornwall Park and Lake Panorama in Auckland.
"The idea is that you find a rock and then you take a picture of it and then you share it on Facebook with the hashtag written on the rock, then you re-hide it again," Mr Oosterman says.
"As much as possible you hide it again and then paint your own and then share them on.
"It's not even just about the artwork. It's about the wonder of finding something hidden," he says.
Rock painters around the country have come forward through Facebook to show their 'stashes'.
"I stopped counting when I got to 15,000 rocks," Mr Oosterman says.
"Before the lockdown, my family had painted less than a dozen.
"Now, my family is addicted," he says.
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