Westpac—17 May 2016

Today a group of professionals from the Westpac corporate tax compliance department visited CUE Haven for a day of planting.  Westpac is one of New Zealand’s largest banks and has been doing business in the country since 1861.  The bank has a strong commitment to sustainability and community support and Westpac staff have made a significant contribution to the CUE Haven project in the past couple of years.

Joining us today were Alex, Eugene, Solveig, Sommohini and Tom.

The group arrived at nine and we spent some time getting acquainted over morning tea.  We then gave the group an overview of the CUE Haven restoration project, a description of the work planned for the day and a safety briefing.

Today the team assisted with planting some pioneer trees in an area that had previously been sparsely planted and they also did in-fill planting of long-lived canopy trees in the area that had been planted with pioneer trees in 2013.

The first task was to sort out the canopy trees in the nursery, put them in crates for transport to the planting site and put a fertiliser tablet with each tree.

We then took the plants up to the planting sites.

The team tackled the small area that needed to be filled in with the pioneer trees and planted manuka, cabbage trees, flax and karamu.

We then moved on to do the infill planting of canopy trees.  The team planted miro, rimu, tanekaha and totara.   This was challenging planting as we had to move through the dense pioneer trees to find light wells where these canopy trees could be planted.

The team coped very well with the challenges.  They were so enthusiastic that they worked non-stop till almost 2 p.m. and planted a great number of canopy trees.

When the team finally finished up, we took a short tour of the property and a leisurely walk back to the cottage.

It was then time for a very late but a well-earned relaxing lunch and enjoyable conversation.

Despite the dire weather forecast it turned out to be a wonderful day and the team accomplished a lot.

A big thank you to Sommohini for organising the visit, and many many thanks to the enthusiastic and hardworking team.  We very much enjoyed meeting you all and working with you.  The trees you planted today will live for generations and will provide food and shelter to a variety of birds and insects. You have made a major contribution not just to CUE Haven but to our planet.

We look forward to seeing you again and we hope you will come back with your families for a leisurely visit soon.

Thanks again!