By his own admission, John Grant is a "stubborn bugger" — a trait which has seen him spend more than three decades and countless dollars creating an amusement park that doesn't make any money.

Key points: Granties Maze is an eclectic theme park on the NSW South Coast built up over more than 30 years by the eponymous owner

Granties Maze is an eclectic theme park on the NSW South Coast built up over more than 30 years by the eponymous owner Inspired by Disneyland, John Grant spends "every spare penny" he has on the park, but is having difficulty attracting clientele

Inspired by Disneyland, John Grant spends "every spare penny" he has on the park, but is having difficulty attracting clientele Mr Grant says he's been stymied by a long-running dispute with the council, which says there aren't enough car spaces at the park

'Build it and they will come' has proved an elusive truism for Granties Maze, despite its vast collection of attractions, from the "one-of-a-kind" animatronic centipede to the semi-trailer hay ride.

But the lack of visitors hasn't stopped Mr Grant continuing to pour his real estate fortune into the park on the New South Wales South Coast, much to the dismay of his wife, who works in the kiosk.

"She calls it my mistress," Mr Grant said.

"I've spent the last forty years, every spare penny … putting in rides, attractions and doing things.

"Even now she complains, 'oh, you've got enough rides,' but you know, you have to keep adding.

"It's the same as Disneyland — Disneyland keeps adding new attractions.

"If you don't, people don't come back."

The property near Kiama now boasts some 80 rides and attractions, including — but certainly not limited to — a ride-on robot elephant, plastic dinosaurs large and small, real-life farm animals, 360-degree swings, and even a wedding garden for any nuptial needs.

But it was the bigger-than 2,000-square metre hedge maze where it all began, and along with it Mr Grant's running battle with the local council, which has been raging, on and off, for more than 30 years.

The maze, which was first planted in 1985, covers more than 2,000 square metres. ( ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale )

Granties troublesome maze

Mr Grant's first development application to build a maze was knocked back by Kiama Council in 1983, but with some persistence approval was granted in 1985.

Mr Grant designed the maze using a pencil and a piece of graph paper and then proceeded to plant more than 2,000 trees, spaced at intervals of at 1.2m.

"The first lot of trees I bought were grevillea rose," Mr Grant said.

"After a couple of years they all died so I replanted it with photinia."

Mr Grant had to plant the maze twice — the first iteration died off after a couple of years. ( ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss )

Even as it grew, Mr Grant realised he would need more than just a maze to attract people to his property.

It took decades of often terse negotiations with Kiama council, which insisted that Mr Grant operate a 'home-based industry', meaning that he had to live on-site.

Approval for the house took eight years as Mr Grant worked to comply with hundreds of conditions imposed by the council.

"Before they would approve the home they said I had to put flyscreens on all the windows," he said.

"What difference does it make?

"I had to plant 400 trees along the road way, you know — forget that I planted 2,000 trees in the maze!"

But by December 2012 it was completed, and Granties Maze finally opened for business on December 27, 2015.

Road to nowhere — and nowhere to park

But Mr Grant's troubles with local council continued as he struggles to attract visitors, with road upgrades in the area providing yet another obstacle to the park's success.

"Before they diverted that road I used to get busloads of Chinese and Indians on their way from Sydney to Melbourne," Mr Grant said.

"They'd come in and they want to use the toilet and we'd say, 'not unless you buy something or go through the maze,' and we would get a lot of people.

"But we don't get that now because the highway has been diverted.

"The only time we make money is school holidays.

"When I make money, I go out and buy more rides."

Granties Maze has more than 80 attractions, but they aren't seeing much use at the moment. ( ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss )

Making matters worse, Mr Grant does not have a permit to erect signage on the new highway and any smaller signs he puts up are pulled down.

"Kiama Council was unable to support Mr Grant's application in March 2017 for tourist attraction signposting," the council said in a statement.

"As a significant number of his attractions did not meet relevant planning regulations."

The council had previously expressed concern about the safety of Mr Grant's attractions — and that the park did not have enough parking for visitors.

"There was not enough detail to ensure the proposed attractions were safe for the public to use," it said in a statement. "There was not enough detail to ensure proper provisions had been made for on-site car parking."

All the animatronic attractions have a soft texture and vibrant colours. ( ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss )

Chinese ingenuity

Mr Grant sources his attractions from overseas.

"I go to the trade shows in Europe, China and America," he said.

"The Chinese are becoming very inventive.

"I've got one particular ride that no-one else in the world's got.

"When I went to China last year, I said to the people who make my dinosaurs, 'I want a ride no-one else in the world has got,' so they made this centipede for me.

The centipede was custom-built in China. Mr Grant says it is the only one of its kind in existence. ( ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss )

"It's rather unique, a little bit frightening because the eyes flash and the arms move up and down, but the kids love it and so do the adults."

Most of his animatronic attractions come from China because the labour costs are so low.

"They can afford to make this stuff at a much cheaper price," Mr Grant said.

Life on the hedge

Dale Macey, the only full-time employee on site, takes care of the animatronic maintenance and the hedge.

He's been working at the park for nearly a year but gardening for over twenty. As much as he enjoys the results he acknowledges that hedges are a lot of hard work.

His favourite aspect of the job is watching the hedge take shape and witnessing the new growth.

Veteran gardener Dale Macey says persistence — certainly not in short supply at Granties Maze — is the key to good hedge shape. ( ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss )

"The new tips will come back a week or so after me and the hedge catches fire over the next few days," Mr Macey said.

"As you carve it out, it seems to come alive again.

"Persistence is the way to get on top of any hedge."

Mr Grant said drought has never been an issue on his property, despite a lack of shade so profound that not even the ocean breeze takes the edge off the scorching summer heat.

"It's always green," Mr Grant said.

"The animals are fat and happy.

"The city children in particular love to feed a pony.

"I bought the goats to eat the blackberries but they eat everything but blackberries."

A park for the Asian Century?

Despite his struggles, Mr Grant remains convinced that his park will eventually explode in popularity.

"I will never make money out of it in my lifetime," he said.

"I believe Australia, in 20 years time, will be the white trash of Asia.

"Our wages are too high.

Mr Grant doubts he will be around to see the park (which also features a tyre maze) succeed, but he holds out hope that it will eventually. ( ABC Illawarra: Sarah Moss )

"Look at our car manufacturing, our appliance manufacturing — it's all gone overseas.

"We can't make anything on a large scale because our wages are too high.

"Workers at Disneyland get $10 an hour.

"You try paying someone $10 an hour here, you'd be hung.