Local Focus: From a Welcome Bay deer farm to a traditional Thai temple

On top of a hill in Welcome Bay sits the Wat Paknam New Zealand Buddhist Temple, which offers Buddhist services to the local community.

Retired Rotorua master carver Clive Fugill calls it his happy place: “When I come to the temple, my whole being changes. I get great calm, everything just disappears.”

Somdet Chuang, head monk of Wat Paknam Temple in Bangkok, bought the Welcome Bay property and converted it from a deer farm to a traditional Thai temple in 2008.

Along with Fugill and his wife, Nor, volunteers from the local Thai community help look after the temple.

“The temple itself has been very popular because we not only service the Thai community, but we have many Buddhists come from Cambodia, Laos, China, and Sri Lanka, and some Kiwis are Buddhists as well,” said Fugill.

Fugill designed and carved the front of the temple building, which he described as a fusion of Thai and Māori cultures. Inside, it’s decorated in the same way as traditional temples in Thailand.

Chuang passed away in 2021, aged 96, and today three monks live at the temple servicing the community’s spiritual needs.

Among them is Settha Wongsalun, who has lived in Tauranga since 2016 and calls it his second home.

“We study the Pali language in the morning and have Buddhist studies in the afternoon,” he said.

Another monk, Thawatchai Kaewnual, began studying to become a monk at just 15 years old. He came to New Zealand in 2019.

“Thailand is different from here,” he said. “Thailand has a busy life; here, it is a very slow life. I enjoy it here, it’s very quiet.”

The temple overlooks the Tauranga Harbour, which makes it a peaceful place for meditation and Buddhist study.

Every year, the Wat Paknam temple hosts different events related to traditional Thai festivals, like the Songkran Water Festival and Thai New Year celebrations. Both attract hundreds of locals.

Thai weddings are also a regularly held at the temple, witnessed and blessed by the resident monks.

Public Interest Journalism Fund