New ‘Punangairi’ Visitors Centre now open
You may have noticed that Punakaiki has an eye-catching new landmark – the building for the new Visitor Centre, Punangairi is complete (now just awaiting the Experience Centre – more info to come).
We posted some progress updates earlier this year which you can check out here and here. We are pretty chuffed with this new space for our community and visitors!
Marie Elder gave some background information on Punangairi in the Dolomite Point Redevelopment project Community Update.
On Monday 06 May 2024, Ngāti Waewae blessed the new building [right] and it opened for business – staffed by both Ngāti Waewae and DOC – early the same afternoon. It’s a beautiful and welcoming space to walk into, so be sure to pop in if you haven’t already.
If you’re wondering about the name Punangairi, here’s some background supplied by Ngāti Waewae:
The name Punakaiki has puzzled Māori and Pākehā since it first appeared on maps because the word doesn’t make sense in te reo Māori – puna means
spring or pool, but kaiki appears to have no meaning.
Poutini Ngāi Tahu, the Māori of the West Coast, believe the correct name is Punangairi. Puna = spring or pool, and ngairi (‘kairi’ in Ngāi Tahu dialect) = stormy waters.
Explorer Charles Heaphy was the first person to write down ‘Punakairi’, in 1846. But when his journal was published in the Nelson newspaper, the typesetter seems to have misread his cursive handwriting as ‘Punakaiki’ – and the name stuck.
Pronunciation: Puna-ngai-ri (same syllables and vowel sounds as Puna-kai-ki).
An era came to a close last week with the overnight demolition of the old Visitor Centre. This had been delayed due to discovery of rather more asbestos than expected and all the care and safety precautions that had to go with its removal.
What a difference a day makes – the old familiar Visitor Centre is taken apart, left. The northern entrance to the new building, Punangairi, is now visible along with the mature nikau which will frame new decking and landscaping.
