CUE Haven

Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award Grove—22-26 April 2013

cuehaven — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 07:56:46 +0000

Back in January, two teams of Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Gold Award participants began work on the walking track in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award Grove. The Grove has been established at CUE Haven to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the DofEHillary Award programme in New Zealand.

This week another team of Gold Award participants were on site to finish the track in anticipation of the 50^th anniversary celebration to be held at CUE Haven in July. The team consisted of Adam, Gemma, Hadley, Hannah, Harrison, Jacquelina, Jefferina, Jordan and Sarah.

The team was led by Matthew Cross, who had generously taken leave from his regular work to volunteer as team leader for the group. On Monday and Thursday, he was assisted by Daniel Scott, a DofEHillary Gold Award holder who is the coordinator of the Grove project and also led the first team in January.

Andy Woodhouse, the DofEHillary Awards Co-Director of Training and Development, also joined in and worked alongside the team for the week.

The team had morning tea over introductions and an orientation to the CUE Haven project. They especially enjoyed the apricot fudge that Gemma had made and brought along!

The group then took a short tour of the property. During the tour we walked the track that had been completed by the previous teams and Tom and Andy showed them where the completed track would go and pointed out aspects of track work that the participants would be involved with.

The team had three major tasks. First was to complete approximately 100 metres of track, from the point that the previous group had finished, up to the main road. This would now provide access to the DofE Hillary Award Grove from four different points. The second task was to build a boardwalk over the headwater of the CUE Haven stream. The last job was to start work on refurbishing the old water tank into a DofE Hillary Award Grove feature.

It was a lot of work for one week, and the team broke into groups to tackle each of the tasks simultaneously and people moved around to different groups so everyone got a chance to contribute to different aspects of the work.

Track Building

Since the last team worked on the walking track in January, we had a record drought with virtually no rain from the end of January to the week before this team arrived. This was mostly bad news, but the good news for us was that last week’s heavy rain on the completely dry track gave us a perfect opportunity to see how the ground on and around the track drained and whether there were any places where we need to improve the track water tables and drainage. The team found three spots where the water had flowed over the track and would be a cause of future problems.

The team corrected the problems by digging drainage ditches and installing drain pipes, sumps and culverts.

The next task was to extend the track up to the road. This involved clearing vegetation, levelling the grade and putting in drainage, and where the slope was too great for comfortable walking, to install steps.

One of the biggest challenges was doing the steps. After determining the grade and the number of steps, the team had to cut them out and then box them up with wooden boards and stakes.

Pounding the stakes into the hard clay was a real challenge!

But the end result was worth the effort:

The last step was to cover the track with a layer of gravel so that people can use it safely throughout the year. This was a challenge because the gravel pile was at the top of the track and the only way to get it down was one bucketful at a time.

The last bit of track work involved finishing off a retaining wall on part of the track that had been built in January. Our friend John Salisbury, an experienced builder, has been volunteering on the project and on Wednesday he joined us to finish off the retaining wall. With Adam’s help, the retaining wall is now complete:

Building the Boardwalk

The CUE Haven stream flows through the DofE Hillary Grove and the track crosses it at two points. During wet winter weather a lot of water comes down from the headwater catchment and the only solution was to build a boardwalk over the stream.

The first task was to study the site to determine where exactly to place the boardwalk and how to anchor it. We decided we needed to span about four metres and that we would use eight footer posts for maximum stability. The team figured out where the footer posts needed to go and dug the holes for the posts.

Once the holes were dug, we could install the footer posts. They have to be cemented in place and we wanted to get them in as early in the week as possible in order to give the cement a chance to dry. First we had to mix the cement—a bit of a challenge in the field.

The posts were then positioned and the cement poured into the holes.

After the cement had dried and the posts were firmly set, the team went back to determine the height and slope of the boardwalk.

Using string and spirit levels, we determined the height of the boardwalk and cut off the posts to the desired height.

The team could then assemble the framework around the posts.

Once the framework was finished, the top boards were nailed down.

To complete the boardwalk, a wire mesh was nailed on top to ensure that the surface will not be too slippery when it is wet.

Working on the Hut

When the CUE Haven property was a farm, there was an extensive irrigation system to deliver water to the paddocks where the cows were grazed. A feature of the system was a concrete water tank near the top of the property. Water was pumped out of the dams in the wetlands and stored in the tank and gravity fed to the paddock troughs.

The water tank is in the DofE Hillary Grove and we asked the previous teams to come up with ideas on how we could put it to use. The best idea involved turning the area around the tank into a rest area with benches and sculptures, with access provided by routing the walking track up to the tank. The tank itself would be decorated and used as a place where pictures and stories about the development of the DofE Hillary Grove would be showcased.

The first thing we had to do was find out what was inside the tank and a way to open it up. Andy Woodhouse arranged for a concrete cutter to cut an opening in the side.

The team was then given three main tasks. The first was to clean the tank inside and out. The second was to paint it and the third was to come up with a “roof” that would help make the tank look more like a hut than a tank.

Cleaning and painting the tank were messy and challenging jobs.

The biggest challenge was figuring out what sort of roof to design. The team decided on a thatched roof made of native NZ materials.

They went into the bush and harvested a supply of nikau palm fronds and went to work. No one on the team knew much about weaving, but Jordan and Sarah took on the challenge and Jordan trained Sarah and several other team members in the weaving technique.

As the end of the week got closer, the team took the unfinished roof down to the garage so they could work at night. Jordan and Adam worked till almost midnight on Thursday night to get the roof completed in time.

On Friday morning the work was finished and the next job was to transport it back up to the tank. Jordan and Adam loaded it on the truck and made sure it wouldn’t fly away during the trip.

The team was waiting at the top and helped carry the roof to the tank.

Matt and Harrison climbed on top and worked the roof into place.

Part of the team worked on wiring and nailing the roof into place, while others worked on joining up the walking track to the hut entrance.

The transformation is amazing and the hut will look even better next week after the team comes back and paints a mural on the outside. A big thank you to Jordan for his hard work planning and coordinating the weaving the roof !

Everyone on the team made a major contribution to the project with both good ideas and hard work and we want to thank everyone for a wonderfully successful week. We especially want to thank Matt for his effective leadership, Daniel Scott for coordinating the Grove project and Andy Woodhouse for his support, vision and enthusiasm which has helped make all of our DofE Hillary Award residentials so successful.

We also want to thank Winstone Aggregates for helping with the gravel we used to finish off the track. Winstone’s has been a supporter of CUE Haven since our first track and road works started. And thank you to Nestle New Zealand who provided the team with coffee and iced Nestea sachets as well as water bottles so that they could take cold drinks into the field.

It was a real pleasure and privilege to work with this team and we look forward to seeing you next week at mural painting. And we hope that you will all come visit CUE Haven and the DofE Hillary Award Grove in the future to see it develop and to serve as team leaders. Thanks again!

Transpower and Northpower—15 February 2013

cuehaven — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:19:02 +0000

CUE Haven has had a long relationship with Transpower NZ Ltd, the company that owns and operates New Zealand’s national electricity grid, as two of Transpower’s main transmission lines cross the CUE Haven property.

Transpower has a strong commitment to community service and in late 2012, CUE Haven received a generous grant from the Transpower Community Care Fund to assist us in building a road to provide access to the areas we will be planting this year.

Transpower also provides its staff a day off annually to volunteer with community projects, and today a team of 8 executives from Transpower’s Auckland office came out to help us for the day. The team included Amber, Andrew, Bob, Heath, John, Kay, Susan and Tracey.

The Transpower team was joined by Jason and Ox, two executives from Northpower, a multi-utility contractor who operate and maintain Transpower assets in northern New Zealand.

The team all arrived shortly after 8 am and were ready to go to work. We spent a few minutes having morning tea and getting acquainted and then gave the team an overview of the CUE Haven project, a description of the plan for the day and a safety briefing.

The plan for the day was to finish off the walking track we had started last week. Two other teams have worked on the track and two major tasks remained—finishing off some of the steps and building the boardwalk over the stream that feeds the pond.

The team helped load the materials we would need into the truck and then we went up to the track site.

The team broke up into two groups. One group worked on finishing off the steps and the grading on the rest of the track. This involves smoothing off step goings and boxing up the treads with planks and pegs.

Pounding the stakes into hard clay can be a real challenge:

But the team managed to keep smiling!

The other group worked on building the boardwalk over the stream that feeds the pond. Earlier in the week another group of enthusiastic volunteers had installed the footers for the bridge:

Before the team arrived, Tom cut off the tops of the posts to leave the footers at the desired height:

The first task today was to assemble the framework which required manoeuvring heavy planks into place, checking their alignment and nailing them in.

Once the frame was assembled, we were able to measure for the internal braces. When the measurements were taken and double checked, Tom cut the planks for the braces and soon the bridge foundation came together.

The next challenge was to work out the positioning of the top planks. The Transpower and Northpower teams worked together to come up with the best solution.

And once the plan was worked out, the bridge was finished off very quickly.

The last task was to finish off the approaches to the bridge. This involved boxing up the path and filling it with soil.

The final step in finishing off the track was to put down a layer of gravel to make the track safe for walkers year round. This was a challenge because the gravel pile was way down by the nursery so we had to bring it up in buckets. Part of the team stationed themselves at the gravel pile to fill buckets.

The buckets were then loaded onto the truck and taken up to the track.

The buckets were then hand carried down and the gravel was spread put onto the track.

In just a few hours the hard working team had finished up the track. A fantastic team effort!

The team then broke for a well-deserved lunch.

After lunch we took the team on a tour of the property, stopping along the way to ‘’inspect’ the Transpower assets:

They also checked out the new Transpower Community Care Fund track currently under construction:

We then drove up to the top of the property and leisurely walked down via the walking tracks in the gully – a relaxing end to a very productive day.

Our many thanks to the team for all their hard work today. We really appreciate their efforts. They were a fun group to work with and we very much enjoyed the day with them. In a short time they built a boardwalk, several steps and completed the track that will be enjoyed by the wider community for many years to come.

And an extra big thank you to Andrew Landy of Transpower who worked to pull together the team and arranged for this fun and productive day.

Thanks again! We look forward to seeing you all back at CUE Haven soon!

VisionWest Horticulture Students—12 February 2013

cuehaven — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:38:07 +0000

The VisionWest Community Trust have become good friends of CUE Haven and since November 2011 they have been bringing groups of horticulture students out for a day as part of their field work experience.

The mission of the VisionWest Community Trust is “Building Hope Together,” and it provides a variety of social service programs for the west Auckland community. Additionally, the Trust operates a training centre which provides a holistic approach to training by integrating class work, work experience and opportunities for students to discover individual talents.

The training centre includes a horticulture school where students learn valuable skills to prepare them for a career in a wide range of horticultural fields and today we were very happy to have a group of students out to CUE Haven as part of their field work experience.

The team arrived just after ten and included tutors Joan, Kevin and Peter and students Alex M., Alex S., Bruce, Edward, Josephine, Justin, Susan, Talagi, Terry, and Tony.

After introductions, we had morning tea and then we provided an overview of the CUE Haven project, a description of the work planned for the day and a safety briefing.

In the past, the VisionWest students have helped with planting and weeding, but today they did some new and different tasks.

There are two areas of mature native bush on the CUE Haven property and this time of year, many of the trees are producing seeds which we can propagate in the nursery. The first task for the day was to walk through the bush and harvest seeds.

The group would be working around mature kauri trees, and we are concerned about kauri dieback disease. Accordingly before entering the mature bush, we asked the team to disinfect their footgear with Trigene, generously provided by the Auckland Council Biosecurity department.

Once that was done we hiked up to the mature bush area.

Our ecologist believes that the oldest trees in this area are around 150 years old and there are some beautiful specimens of puriri, kauri, kahikatea, taraire, karaka, rata and nikau.

Collecting seeds involves finding a mature specimen and looking through the material on the forest floor for seeds that have fallen. It can be a bit of a challenge because the bush is so dense.

Once we had collected a good supply of karaka, taraire, puriri and nikau seeds, the team moved on to the next task.

Last week we started building a walking track around one of the ponds and today the team continued work on it. They installed footer posts for a boardwalk, finished off and installed some steps, and put in a culvert sump.

Once the cement has dried and the posts are firm, we will cut off the tops and build the bridge frame around them.

While one part of the team worked on the posts, the rest of the team worked on finishing off steps. This part of the work gave the tutors a chance to demonstrate track building techniques and drainage issues and planning.

Finishing off the steps required hard work and lots of team work.

The team also demonstrated how innovative they are. Tom had forgotten the spirit level so to make sure they got the steps risers straight, they improvised a spirit level with a Nestea drink bottle.

Nestle NZ had generously provided drink bottles and Nestea Iced Peach Tea so the students could have cold drinks in the field. Thanks Nestle!

It was very hot and sunny but the group worked hard and made good progress on the track. We then broke for a late lunch.

Before they left, the team sorted out the seeds by type and will take them back to their nursery to plant and grow.

This was the fourth VisionWest team we’ve had out to CUE Haven and we were again very impressed by the group. The team was enthusiastic and energetic and we enjoyed working with them. It was a pleasure to see the way they worked together as a team. We find that when VisionWest brings the students for a field trip to CUE Haven, we are students for a day as well because we have an opportunity to learn so much from the very knowledgeable tutors. Thanks Joan, Kevin and Peter for sharing your knowledge and for your interest in our project.

And our many thanks to the students for all their efforts. Your work on the track is a major contribution to CUE Haven that will be enjoyed by visitors for many years to come. We wish you the best of luck with your studies and future endeavours. We look forward to having you all back at CUE Haven.

Gen-i/Telecom New Zealand—8 February 2013

cuehaven — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 08:21:07 +0000

A hard working group from Gen-i and Telecom NZ visited CUE Haven for a fun and productive day of track building.

Gen-i, part of Telecom New Zealand, is New Zealand’s leading IT and ICT solutions provider. As part of its programme of ‘catalytic philanthropy,’ the Telecom Foundation provides each Telecom employee with a Volunteer Day on which they can do work to support an organisation of their choice. A group wanting to work on an ecological community project approached the local New Zealand Department of Conservation office to obtain a list of environmental projects in our area and CUE Haven was one of the projects on the list.

Steve Jessop, Technology Operations Manager at Gen-i, championed the CUE Haven project and twenty-three people chose to come to CUE Haven to help out for a day — Bryan, Carl, Christopher, Craig, Dale, Dean, Dion, Emma, Harm, James H., James S., Jou, Marcella, Melisa, Neil, Paul, Quintin, Ravi, Ray, Sharif, Simon, Steve and Vict.

The group arrived at about nine and after morning tea, we gave them a briefing on CUE Haven, the planned work for the day and safety procedures.

For some time, we have been planning to put a walking track around one of the ponds where a number of memorial trees have been planted. We had previously sprayed out the route of the path and the plan for the day was for the team to start clearing the vegetation away and smooth out the surface to form the track.

After the briefing, we took the team on a walk through the property along existing walking tracks. The purpose of the walk was both to give the group a better idea of what’s happening at CUE Haven, and to give them a chance to see a completed track and the kinds of tasks involved in track building.

Once we got to the start point of the new track, Tom gave a brief demo on the work to be done and the team quickly spread out and went to work.

The first task was clearing away vegetation:

Once the vegetation had been cleared away, we could study how the track surface would look. The team then levelled out sections to keep the track surface as flat as possible.

Because most of the track circles a pond whose size varies by season, we had to plan for seasonal water flows and ensure that the track would drain properly. The team put in culvert pipes where necessary.

Other team members had a look at the grade of the track and started to cut steps to make it easier for people to negotiate the slopes.

And the hard working team even took their breaks in the field — We want to thank Nestle NZ who provided much appreciated Nestea iced peach tea for the team.

It quickly became clear that this was no ordinary team and by lunch, they had already accomplished as much as we had expected them to do all day!

The team broke for lunch shortly after noon and spent some time relaxing.

And being telecommunications professionals, they couldn’t resist checking our claim that we don’t get cell phone coverage:

At lunch we also spent a few minutes planning the afternoon work. We broke the team into four groups. One would work on boxing up the steps, a second would get a start on the bridge, the third would move up to start the new track and the fourth would work on covering the finished portions of the track with gravel.

Finishing off the steps involves shaping them and then putting in a plank of wood to protect the riser and hold the step in position. The plank is held in place by two stakes. Pounding the stakes into the hard clay can be a challenge.

The pond that the track circles is fed by a seasonal stream and even in summer the area is boggy. The team decided that a boardwalk over the area was the best way to make the track usable year round. After determining where the boardwalk should be positioned, it was first necessary to dig holes for the posts we would use as footers.

We then had to plan how to install the footers, which need to placed in concrete to keep the boardwalk secure. We found some old fence posts and gathered up the necessary materials.

The team then mixed the cement in the field and installed the footers.

Once the concrete dries fully, we will continue to finish off the boardwalk.

The third group headed up to the top of the property to start a new track. We have been building a network of tracks on the property and wanted to link an existing track to the main road. The area hadn’t been prepared or sprayed, but the team took up the challenge and very quickly finished it off.

The last group worked on laying down gravel on the track. This will make the track safer for people to use, especially in winter. The challenge was that the gravel pile was down by the nursery, almost half a kilometre from the track site. We stationed a team down by the pile to fill up the 10 litre buckets generously provided by Resene Paints.

The buckets were then loaded onto the truck:

And taken up to the start of the track where they were unloaded by other team members who then spread the gravel along the track.

It’s hard to believe that in just about 6 hours, this:

Turned into this:

A big thank you to Steve for his efforts in getting together a great team for the day.

And our many thanks to the team – Thank you all very much. It was a pleasure working with all of you.

In addition to what we accomplished and the fun we had, it was inspiring to watch the team in action. In all, they built 147 metres of walking track with 28 steps, installed two culverts and dug post holes and set posts for a bridge on the track. It was great to work with a team willing to work together to make a lasting contribution to the environment by getting outside of their comfort zones to create something that will be enjoyed by the wider community for many years to come.

Thanks again! We look forward to seeing you all back at CUE Haven soon.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award Grove and Walking Track—21-25 January 2013

cuehaven — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 09:22:52 +0000

2013 is the 50^th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award programme in New Zealand and to commemorate the anniversary, a special project is being undertaken to establish The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award Grove at CUE Haven.

This week another group of DoEHillary Award participants were on site at CUE Haven to fulfil the residential section requirement for their Gold Awards and made major progress on the walking track in ‘The Grove’.

The Grove is an area of a little over one hectare where DofEHillary Award participants will be able to perform community work toward their award goals and also to make a permanent contribution to the planet.

Last week, a team of students started a walking track through The Grove that will enable visitors to explore the area. A new team of students arrived this week to finish Phase I of the track

The team arrived on Monday morning after meeting at a grocery store in Auckland to do food shopping for the week. The team leader was Russell Allen, a retired school teacher who has had a long association with the DofE programme in the UK.

The team was made up of students from Auckland, Napier and Hamilton and included Aaron, Aless, Alexandra, Cherry, Garrick, Georgia, Megan, Minnie, Shay and Victoria.

Most of the team members had never met before. Over morning tea, we took some time to get acquainted. Andy Woodhouse, DofEHillary Awards Co-Director of Training and Development was present to welcome the students and we provided a briefing about the CUE Haven project and the work to be done for the week.

Tom then explained safety procedures for the property and the tools that the team would be using during the track building.

The Grove is near the top of the CUE Haven property, about a kilometre walk from the cottage and Tom took them on a tour to The Grove by way of the existing walking track to show them the work done by the team last week and features of the track such as steps and culverts which they would be building this week.

After the walk the team then returned to the cottage to unpack and have lunch.

They also got to sample the yummy treats that Victoria had baked for them:

The group then headed up to The Grove to start work. They picked up where the previous team had finished. Tom demonstrated what needed to be done and part of the team immediately went to work putting in some steps while the rest worked on clearing away vegetation and smoothing the surface of the track.

Over the next four and a half days the team worked very hard constructing the track.

Where necessary the team cut steps into the track which were supported by a heavy plank to hold the step in place.

The planks were secured with two heavy wooden pegs, and it was a challenge to pound the pegs into the hard clay soil.

Once the step was boxed up, the soil was smoothed out to make the surface even.

In spite of the heat and sun, the team made good progress and after extending the track several metres, they started covering the new surface with gravel. The gravel will make the track safe and usable in all kinds of weather.

Spreading the gravel was one of the more challenging jobs because the pile was a good distance from the track and also downhill—which meant that the gravel had to be hauled up.

And then loaded into buckets.

Which were then hand carried to the end of the track.

The longer the track got, the farther they had to haul the gravel. The team was very innovative in coming up with ways to make the job faster and easier:

The track traverses very hilly ground and several steps and switch backs are required. The slope also means that we needed to be concerned about drainage and water tables because in rainy weather a lot of water can accumulate and potentially damage the track.

The team had to put themselves in the shoes of civil engineers and study the terrain for clues about how the water would flow across and along the track. They then made decisions about how to bench and angle the track surface and in some places also put in drainage channels.

During our planning, the walking track project was broken into two sections—Phase I and Phase II. We had originally expected to only complete Phase I by this week, but thanks to the hard working and enthusiastic teams we’ve had, we’ve finished Phase I and are now well into Phase II.

One of the challenges this team had was to figure out a way to do the intersection of the two sections of track. The problem was to make a T-intersection on two levels and Victoria and a dedicated group studied the problem and came up with a unique, workable and very attractive solution.

While part of the group worked on the junction, another group developed a creative solution in another part of the track. The route took them around two young trees that they didn’t want to disturb. The initial solution was to create a small island for the trees:

But as they were doing the gravel work, they decided to create “The Heartbreak – the heart that breaks the path.”

Our friend John Salisbury, a builder, came out for a day and volunteered to help with some projects around CUE Haven. One of the projects was to reinforce a retaining wall along the track with big fence posts and Megan and Garrick assisted John for part of the day.

The team worked very hard all week, and everyone made a major contribution to the track.

Most of the group had never met before Monday morning, but they quickly came together as a team. In addition to working hard all day, they relaxed in the evenings by playing Trivial Pursuit and card games such as Mafia, Cheat and Scum as well as watching movies.

Everyone participated in making dinner. The team discovered that they had ‘overbought’ when it came to potatoes and accordingly, each night on the menu, someone created a “Potato Surprise.” One evening Shay baked chocolate chip cookies to enjoy during well deserved rests in the field.

The team also explored the walking track by night and saw the glow worms. And one night Garrick, Georgia, Aless, Minnie and Aaron tackled the world map jigsaw puzzle and completed it in a record one hour, forty minutes!

Throughout the week the team got out of their comfort zones—working and living with new people and doing work and using tools they may not have had experience with before. To keep things light they gave all their tools names. The rakes became known as “Joan” and “Loretta,” a spade earned the name “Bridgette,” the drill was known as “Gertrude” and the wheel barrow was “Big Mamma.”

It was great to see the team come together. During the debrief they mentioned that at first they had more than a few “T.I.A.” moments—silences in which everyone was thinking “This is Awkward.” But by the end of the week when it was time to leave, they admitted that it was a “Tear” moment.

The team finished work at lunch time on Friday and after lunch gave the cottage a thorough cleaning.

Later a de-briefing meeting was held where they discussed their experiences during the week and Daniel Scott who is co-ordinating the DofEHillary Grove project at CUE Haven joined in for the final debriefing session.

We were very happy to hear that all the participants had enjoyed the week and felt they had made good friends and learned new skills and also developed a greater appreciation for walking tracks and what is involved in creating them!

We had a fantastic week as well. We were truly impressed by the dedication, motivation and attitude of the team. They were a great group of people who worked together as a team to make the track the best it could be and to make CUE Haven a nicer place for future generations to enjoy.

The team has every reason to be proud of their efforts. In one week, and with no previous experience, they managed to build approximately 129 metres of track which includes 25 steps. They exceeded expectations as they took over and finished Phase I of the track and got a good start on Phase II.

We’d like to thank John Salisbury for his continued support. John has come to CUE Haven on numerous occasions as a volunteer and assisted with many tasks big and small.

Thanks also to Nestle NZ, a supporter of CUE Haven, for providing Milo, Nescafe and iced Nestea and drink bottles so that that team could take the cold drinks into the field:

We want to thank Andy Woodhouse and Daniel Scott for their efforts in making the DofEHillary Grove at CUE Haven a reality and for their help and support in planning and executing the residential retreats.

Our thanks to Russell for coming out to lead the team this week. He provided support to the team and also worked very hard on the track building.

We especially want to thank the team members—their hard work has helped to make the DofE Hillary Grove a special place that will be enjoyed by many people for a long time. We enjoyed working with you and watching you come together as a team. Everyone got along, never lost their cool (in spite of the heat) and did their best to make it a fun, productive and memorable week.

We wish you all the best of luck as you pursue your DofE Hillary Awards. And good luck with your future studies and pursuits. We look forward to seeing you again—come back to CUE Haven with your family and friends to see how the Grove is progressing. And to serve as team leaders for future DofEHillary Award teams!

Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award Grove and Walking Track—14-18 January 2013

cuehaven — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 09:27:25 +0000

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award (DofEHillary), is an award given to young people age 14 to 25 who complete a program of activities designed to improve themselves and their community.

As they progress through the award structure, participants select and set objectives in the following areas:

•Volunteering: undertaking service to individuals or the community.

•Physical: improving in an area of sport, dance or fitness activities.

•Skills: developing non- pyhsical practical and social skills and personal interests.

•Expedition: planning, training for and completion of an adventurous journey.

•At Gold level, participants must do an additional fifth Residential section, which involves staying and working away from home doing a shared activity.

The Award Programme was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1956 as The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and has since been adopted in over 130 countries. The Award is the same around the world, but the activities and the name are adapted to suit the country. The program was adopted in New Zealand in 1963. It is called the The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award to recognize Sir Edmund Hillary. See http://www.dofehillary.org.nz/ for more information about the programme.

This year is the 50^th anniversary of the DofEHillary Award programme in New Zealand and to commemorate the anniversary, a special project is being undertaken to establish The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award Grove at CUE Haven.

The Grove is an area of a little over one hectare where DofEHillaryAward participants will be able to perform community work toward their award goals and also to make a permanent contribution to the planet.

The first thing we needed to do was enable visitor access to the Grove by means of a walking track and this week a group of students working toward their gold awards were on site at CUE Haven to fulfil their residential project requirements and to start the walking track through The Grove.

The team was scheduled to arrive mid-morning on Monday. Andy Woodhouse, DofEHillary Award Co-Director of Training & Development, arrived early in the morning to finalise plans for the week and was also on site each day assisting the team.

The timber and building materials we expected to need for the track had been ordered previously and they arrived right on time first thing Monday morning.

The team arrived at around 10:30 after meeting at a grocery store in Auckland to do food shopping for the week. The team leader was Daniel Scott, a DofEHillary Gold Award holder who is currently practicing in Auckland as a Geotechnical Water Resources Engineer. He was assisted by Samuel Ames, a commercial solicitor in Auckland. The students working towards their gold award were Andrea, Annie, David, Katherine, Kevin, Nathaniel, Patrick, Rashmica and Sarah.

One of the requirements of the residential project is that the award participants should not know any of the other team members, so over morning tea, in addition to providing a briefing about the CUE Haven project and the work to be done for the week, the team spent some time getting acquainted.

The DofEHillary Grove is near to the top of the CUE Haven property, about a kilometre walk from the cottage and after the team had unpacked the groceries, Tom took them by way of the existing walking track to show them how a finished track looks. This way, the team could see features of the track such as steps and culverts which they would be building on their track.

The team then returned to the cottage for lunch and then got to work. The first task was to move the timber that had been delivered into the nursery to protect it from the sun.

Then it was up to The Grove to start work. The track layout had previously been reviewed with Andy and we had sprayed the route to kill grass and weeds and cleared away the dead vegetation so the team could get right to work. The first task was to smooth and level the track surface and to identify water tables and water flow pathways so that the track would stand up to heavy rains and water flow.

The Grove is on a hillside that encompasses the headwater of the main stream on the property and as a result very little of the track traverses level ground. It wasn’t long before it became necessary to start cutting steps in the track to make it easier for future visitors to walk up and down the grades.

Making steps requires planning and hard work. First, the steps are carved out.

After the steps are cut, they are boxed with a timber plank that is held in place with two wooden stakes. We determined the number of planks and stakes we would need and Tom, Nathaniel and Patrick went down to the nursery, which doubled up as a carpentry shop for the week, to measure and cut the wood.

We delivered the wood to the work site and the team started putting the steps together.

Pounding the stakes into hard clay was a challenge.

Another challenge is keeping the stakes straight as they are pounded in and also ensuring that they are pounded into the correct level. We made a jig to help the team members do the step installation.

The team should be proud of the sixty-one steps they installed along the track!

We also installed several drain pipes along the track to channel water away from the surface.

As the track progressed the team came to an area where they had to make decisions about the best way to route the track around large trees and other obstacles. They found it necessary to build retaining walls along some sections of the track to ensure a level walking surface. Building the walls required a lot of planning and design effort and the team worked together very well in coming up with the best solution. Everyone would participate in discussions and make suggestions for improvements.

And the actual building of the walls required more teamwork:

The retaining walls look as good as the steps!

The last step in the track building involves spreading fine gravel on the surface to make the track safe for year round use. Because of the steepness of the track, we couldn’t use wheelbarrows or other equipment so they team brought in metal by the bucket load. It was sheer hard work. The gravel pile is at the midpoint between the two ends of the walking track, so no matter which end we started at, there would be a long walk. One group stationed themselves at the metal pile and filled the buckets.

While other team members carried the buckets along the track and dumped the gravel on the track.

A team member stationed at the end raked and smoothed the gravel.

The team worked very hard all week but they managed to relax during the evenings. Each night they cooked dinner and made it a special event. It was a daily competition to see whether the girls or boys could come up with an innovative dining experience. The girls started off with creative table decorations and the boys upped the ante the following evening with a “silver” service fine dining experience for the girls. Then it was surprise Mr Whippy ice creams for the girls one evening while the girls made meringues.

On Thursday the team celebrated Andy’s birthday with a cake.

Even though none of them had known each other on Monday, everyone got along very well and they enjoyed spending time together. They played card games like Mafia and 500 and also took a night walk in the CUE Haven bush and saw the glow worms in The Grove.

Sarah also taught the group a number of interesting warm up exercises:

The team finished work at lunch time on Friday. After lunch they cleaned the cottage and then held a de-briefing meeting where they discussed their experiences during the week.

We were very happy to hear that all the participants had enjoyed the week and felt they had made good friends and learned new skills. They finished up with a singalong led by Samuel and Kevin on guitar.

The team has every reason to be proud of their efforts. In one week, and with no previous experience, they managed to build approximately 152 metres of track which includes 61 steps and 19 metres of retaining wall.

We’d like to thank Nestle NZ, a supporter of CUE Haven, for providing iced Nestea and drink bottles so that that team could take the cold drinks into the field:

And we want to thank Andy Woodhouse for his efforts in making the DofEHillary Grove at CUE Haven a reality and for his help and support in planning and executing the residential retreat this week.

Many thanks too to Daniel and Samuel for taking a week off from work and leading the team during the week. They were very effective team leaders and set the tone that enabled the team to come together and work so well. Plus they did far more than their share of the work. We really appreciate your efforts!

And we especially want to thank the award participants —a great group of young people who made a major contribution to the CUE Haven project and have created something that will last a long time and be enjoyed by many people. Everyone was willing to get out of their comfort zone, pick up a tool they’d never used before and offer suggestions on how to make the track better or the work easier.

It was real pleasure meeting and working with you all and we wish you best of luck as you pursue your DofEHillary Awards and also with all your future endeavours. Come back to CUE Haven to have a relaxing walk on the track you’ve created and to see us again. Or to serve as team leaders for future DofEHillary Award teams!

xxxx

Treescape Gives CUE Haven a New Look—11 January, 2013

cuehaven — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 00:55:38 +0000

At CUE Haven we spend most of our time planting trees, so you might be surprised to hear that today four great guys from Treescape helped us cut down four trees.

Yes. Because we are turning CUE Haven into a native New Zealand forest, we have to be careful of non-native trees which might have established themselves over the years. These trees, known as “exotics” can be a problem because they often compete and overpower New Zealand native trees. It might sound funny to call a poplar tree “exotic,” but in NZ it is and it’s one of the more difficult exotics to deal with.

Poplars spread by sending out root runners which is why they often are seen growing in a line—and were often used on farms to create windbreaks. We had a couple of lines of poplars that had grown up over the years. Some we are keeping for a while because they are away from the bush restoration area and provide shade and privacy for the cottage. But some were in the wrong place and causing difficulties. We ring barked them last summer and all but one had died and today a team from Treescape came out to cut down the trees and chop them up into mulch.

Treescape was started 30 years ago by two enthusiastic young New Zealanders – Edward Chignell and Brandon Whiddett, who started their working lives with two chainsaws and a VW Beetle. Today Treescape employs more than 250 trained staff and operates throughout New Zealand and in Australia providing a range of services in vegetation management.

Treescape has a strong commitment to environmental sustainability and has been a long-time supporter of the CUE Haven Restoration project.

The Treescape team from the Warkworth Depot arrived today at about nine and consisted of Eddy, Mark, Jacques and Owen.

First they tackled the live tree at the end of the driveway. It has been sending out runners along the fence line and competing with some of our native plantings at the front of the property.

Mark went up in the bucket and cut off the branches and the rest of the team cleared up the debris.

It didn’t take long for the tree to start to disappear:

The team cut part of the stump into 4 blocks so that we can use them for stools for visitors to rest on along the walking track. Jacques, using the digger like a surgeon, brought them up closer to the cottage:

The remaining three trees were all dead and were also smaller. One fit into the chipper with one go. Owen and Eddy cut the base and Jacques manoeuvred it into position:

In the meantime, Mark and Eddy went to work on the biggest of the dead trees.

Mark would cut off the big branches:

And Eddy would cut them into smaller pieces:

Once most of the branches were off, the team prepared to take the trunk down. The tree was leaning over the fence into the wetlands and right over the stream so the team had to make sure it fell away from the stream and onto the road.

They tied a long rope to the trunk and the other end to Jacques’s digger.

Owen then cut a big wedge out of the trunk:

Jacques then backed up the digger and the tree fell. Very loudly!

The team then cut up the trunk and mulched it.

It was fascinating watching the Treescape team work with such precision and always with safety in mind.

It’s going to take some getting used to the front gate without the tree, but it won’t be long before New Zealand native trees will be filling in the space:

We’d like to thank Treescape’s Ed Chignell (CEO), Bryson Middleton (Northern Area Manager) and Paul Cook (Warkworth Depot Manager) for their continued support of the restoration work at CUE Haven.

And we especially want to thank Mark, Eddy, Jacques and Owen for all their hard work on a hot, humid day. They were all very friendly, professional and helpful.

We look forward to seeing you all back for a more leisurely visit.

Thanks Treescape!

Conservation Volunteers–January 7-11, 2013

cuehaven — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:36:14 +0000

The new year got off to a great start as a team of hard working volunteers braved heat and humidity to help us out with several important projects.

The team was led by Bruce Eade, who had led one of the very first CVNZ teams to visit CUE Haven back in 2008! The group consisted of Rini from Indonesia, Anna and Lucia from Germany, Manon from France, Alastair (originally from South Africa but now a New Zealander) and Yvonne from New Zealand. The CVNZ team was sponsored by Fonterra through their Catchment Care Program.

The team arrived on Monday morning and after introductions, orientation and lunch, they got to work in the nursery.

Matt from Scrub Growers Ltd had delivered a supply of over 1,000 seedlings that morning – a mixture of kauri, kahikatea, totara, puriri, titoki, taraire, nikau, kowhai. The seedlings were acquired with the help of a grant from the Auckland Council Rodney Environmental Education Fund.

All these little seedlings needed to be replanted into larger containers and these plants will eventually be used as canopy plants when they grow bigger.

Tom briefed the group on the different plants we would be potting and on how to do the potting.

Because it was very hot and sunny all week, the group typically spent afternoons in the nursery to stay out of the sun.

We kept the team well supplied with potting mix from the Kaipara Coast Plant Centre. Sarah thanks for your help with loading the ute!

And Alastair and Matt (from Scrub Growers Ltd) helped Tom unload the heavy bags back at the nursery.

And over the next few days the team managed to get all of the seedlings potted up. These seedlings will be transplanted into bigger bags later this year.

In addition to the seedlings, we also had a few wetland plants left over from last year’s planting season. They were large enough to plant in the field and, even though it is summer, it is still possible to plant in the wetlands. The group spent two mornings planting flaxes around the ponds and stream.

Summer may not be the planting season at CUE Haven, but it is definitely weed season. Our boundary fences have been electrified to keep the neighbours’ cows from paying us a visit. Weeds growing up on the hot wire can short out the fence and the team walked the fence line and trimmed away any vegetation that had grown up around the wire.

This summer we are going to be extending the walking track that was built last year and the team made the first pass through the track to clear away vegetation and to establish the grade to determine where benching and steps will be required. It was hard work, but the track will be something that visitors will enjoy for many years to come.

This week involved a lot of hard work but the team was really enthusiastic and dedicated. The team even had lunches in the field!

We’d like to thank Auckland Council, Fonterra and CVNZ for their contributions to the CUE Haven Restoration project. And an extra big thank you to the team for all their hard work. We really appreciate your efforts and we hope you will come back to visit and walk the finished track some day!

Community Walking Track Day—9 December 2012

cuehaven — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 05:08:18 +0000

A fantastic group of volunteers gave up a Sunday to come out and help us to finish off the gully walking track.

In January and February 2012 we put in a 600 meter walking track along the gully stream and in May and July teams of volunteers spread metal on about two thirds of the track surface. Today’s group of volunteers finished off the project just in time for summer visitors to enjoy the track.

The group arrived at about nine and got acquainted over muffins, sausage rolls and tea and coffee. Beverages were generously provided by Nestle New Zealand.

Tom then gave a safety briefing and an explanation of the objectives for the day and the work to be done.

And we took a group picture while everyone was well rested and full of energy!

The objective for the day was to put down metal over the bare track. Because the track goes over hilly terrain, there are several sets of steps, we can’t use machines or even wheelbarrows to get the gravel down to the track. We previously had a big load of gravel delivered to the end of the track and the volunteers used empty ten litre Resene paint cans to deliver the gravel to the track—one bucketful at a time!

At one end of the track, two volunteers shovelled gravel into the buckets.

One person was stationed at the other end with a rake to level off the fresh gravel surface.

The volunteers then spread out along the track and carried two buckets a time from one person to the next until they reached the last person in line who dumped the gravel on the track.

In addition to passing full buckets toward the end of the track, the volunteers also had to send back the empties for “recycling.”

And in spite of all the hard work, the volunteers managed to keep working!

Some particularly energetic members doubled up and carried four buckets instead of two.

And to work out a different set of muscles, some team members rotated jobs:

But most of the action was on the track as the team managed to lay down gravel over approximately 120 metres!

It was a perfect spring day but the sun was hot and 12 year old Yazdy came to the rescue by putting down his bucket and helping out as the Water Boy, running back and forth from the cottage and up along the track serving iced tea and water to all the volunteers.

Within three hours of hard work the track was complete and the volunteers then took a leisurely walk back to the cottage for a well deserved rest and lunch.

We are truly grateful for the hard work expended by all the volunteers who have helped with the walking track construction. They have made a contribution to CUE Haven that will give people enjoyment for years to come.

The walking track is a major feature of CUE Haven. It gives visitors a chance to explore the mature bush on the property and get an idea of what the entire property will look like in future years. The track also takes visitors along the gully stream where they can see eels, kokopu and, at night, glow worms. It is also a great place for observing bird life. Now that the track is completely metalled it will be convenient and safe for visitors to use year round.

We want to thank Nestle New Zealand for providing a range of delicious Nescafe products and iced Nestea for the volunteers. And thank you to Winstone Aggregates for helping with the metal and Resene for providing the buckets.

But most of all, our many many thanks to our great team of volunteers who spanned four generations, from ages 10 up to 80! Thanks Arjun, Bilkish, Binaifer, Burzis, Delzin, Doug, Homi, Hormuz, Jarafshan, Jeffrina, John, Kairus, Kersi, Mauricio, Minoo, Nash, Piran, Prem, Renate, Ruairi, Ruby, Shajee, Smitha, John, Sol, Tanaz, Tehmus, Tenaz, Xerxes M, Xerxes S, Yasmin, Yazdy, Yutaz and Zirak.

We also want to thank Anahita and Rashna who helped Mahrukh at the cottage as well as Thrity, Katy and Jamshed who came along to provide encouragement and support to their children and grandchildren working on the track.

Once the restoration of CUE Haven is completed it will be gifted it to the community. So the support and efforts of everyone helping to transform CUE Haven into a native New Zealand forest that will be enjoyed by future generations is very much appreciated.

Thanks again!!! We look forward to having you all back for a leisurely visit!

Fishy Business At CUE Haven—28 November 2012

cuehaven — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:07:04 +0000

From November 26-28, the Auckland Council Wai Care/Environmental Programmes Coordinators group held an annual training session for their staff. This year the retreat focussed on the south Kaipara Harbour area, where CUE Haven is located. The workshops consisted of training meetings and field trips and on the morning of November 28 the group visited CUE Haven.

Wai Care is a water quality monitoring, education and action programme for community groups, individuals, businesses and schools across the Auckland region. They support and enable local communities to be active in the protection, health and management of local waterways and catchments.

Earlier this year, Wai Care’s Environmental Programmes Coordinator, Rachel Griffiths, provided water testing demonstrations and training for two student groups who came out to CUE Haven as part of the Trees For Survival school planting programme.

The objective of today’s visit was to tour the property to get an overview of our restoration work and to have a look at fish and macro-invertebrates in the stream. The team included, Rachel, Laura, Hazel, Sophie, Kristen, Marnie and Sue from Wai Care/Trees For Survival and Paul, an independent native fish specialist . Tracy Tristram Auckland Council’s Environmental Programmes Advisor also joined the group for part of the morning.

After morning tea and a briefing by Mahrukh and Tom, the group piled into Tracy’s ute for a quick tour of the property.

Sue insisted on taking a grubber along to attack any weeds she encountered along the way!

We then took a hike down the gully walking track. The team had brought nets and field equipment to check for fish in the stream.

We were hoping to find some fish because healthy aquatic life is an indication of the success of our restoration programme in improving water quality. Paul and Rachel found a shaded pool and went down to explore.

And in no time they found four very healthy Banded Kokopu – a native fish of the Galaxiid (whitebait) family that is found only in New Zealand streams. More information on New Zealand native freshwater fish can be found here: http://terranature.org/kokopuBanded.htm

Paul put the fish into a bucket and brought them up for the team to examine and they were happy to see the size and health of the fish.

After a quick measure and examination, Rachel put the fish back into the pool. It was great having Paul (the Afishionado) along to explain the characteristics and habits of the Banded Kokopu.

After the walk through the gully, we showed the group the nursery and discussed our seed harvesting and planting plans.

The group then went down the road to our neighbours Gill and Kevin at the Mataia Restoration project. After lunch we joined the Wai Care team and attended a workshop presented by Sarah Sheeran, Auckland Council EFS Senior Advisor, on managing and working with groups in the field.

It was a fun and informative day and we’d like to thank Rachel and all of the Auckland Council representatives who joined us. We’d also like to thank Gill, Kevin and Sarah for having us over to participate in Sarah’s very useful presentation.

We look forward to having the group back as we continue our efforts to restore CUE Haven and transform it into a native reserve.

Thanks Wai Care!