Contact Energy Volunteer Planting Day–June 1, 2011

We couldn’t have asked for a better day for planting than this past Wednesday when ten volunteers from Contact Energy came out to CUE Haven to help with this year’s planting.  Contact Energy is one of New Zealand’s largest public companies.  They are a generator and retailer of electricity, natural gas and LPG.

The team arrived just before 9 am and we spent a few minutes getting acquainted and having morning tea.  Mahrukh and I provided an overview of the CUE Haven project.

And then the team hiked up to the planting site:

The weather was perfect for tree planting.  It started out cool and cloudy and once in a while threatened to shower, but there was plenty of sun as well.

The team discovered a few worms and rainbow skinks, but the most interesting discovery was when Kuan unearthed an old cow bone:

The team was so energetic and productive that even when they took a rest they were still working, as Martyn is demonstrating:

The rest was well deserved—in just a few hours the team managed to plant almost 550 trees!

After a hike back down (no one wanted to ride) we had a leisurely lunch:

After lunch we went for a short walk along Duncan’s Grove and Marie collected an organic “gift” for some of the folks back in the office!

A big thank you to the great Contact Energy team of Fiona, Gemma, Ian, Janet, Kuan, Martyn, Michael, Marie, Michelle and Rebecca.  Thanks for coming out and making it a fun and successful planting day.  You’ve made a major contribution to the CUE Haven project and we sincerely appreciate it.

We especially want to thank Michelle for arranging for the volunteers to come out and we look forward to seeing you all again.