Omokoroa, meaning ‘place of the long lizard' in Maori, now has its own beautifully crafted welcoming sign just off of the State Highway 2 entrance.

Omokoroa Public Art group chairperson Janine Birch says the statue will be blessed and officially unveiled by Te Puna locals on Sunday at 10am.

Chloe Wright, CEO of the Wright Family Foundation, next to the lizard which will be blessed Sunday morning. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

'Just to set it on its way; normally one has an occasion to set it off,” says Janine.

Sculptor and artist Warwick Lilley, who was commissioned for the piece by the Omokoroa Public Art Group, says the he put a lot of time and effort into the designing and sculpting process for the Omokoroa lizard.

'I probably gave them about 20 different designs for the lizard, and the design on the lizard itself.

'I would have spent probably 100-150 hours all up [designing and sculpting].”

Warwick says the lizard was an ‘awesome challenge'. 'I haven't carved many lizards, so I was very happy.”

One of the trickiest parts of the design, Warwick says, was creating a lizard that looked right. 'The shape and the movement, because you can carve a flat lizard and it has no life to it, so I wanted to make it look like it was crawling up the rock.”

And making sure it was strong enough to withstand climbers, because he knew 'where it was going someone would climb it”.

The project, which has taken more than two years, was largely sponsored by the Wright Family Foundation.

Chloe Wright and her husband Wayne have lived in their Omokoroa home since the 1980s. It's the same house Chloe designed, and both her and Wayne have been involved in community projects all over the peninsula.

'When we moved here 33 years ago, we knew this was the place we wanted to put down roots and raise our family,” says Chloe.

'We were delighted when Janine Birch and committee approached us for sponsorship of a sculpture that would recognise the original inhabitants of the peninsula and how they viewed the land.”

Chloe felt strongly about supporting the Omokoroa Lizard and as a result the foundation contributed $6000 to the design and installation, and also met with local kaumatua to arrange the special blessing.

'The blessing is done as a protection of the edifice and includes those around it.”

'I personally find this to be spiritually moving and important to the future of whatever is blessed.

'I could not conceive of an unveiling without a blessing and recognition of our first inhabitants and their historical contributions.”