ANZ North Shore—21 March 2017

Today we had another great group of ANZ bank professionals from the North Shore out to help with our walking track work.

The group arrived first thing in the morning and included Ben, Cheryl, Jim, Joanne, Joe, Justeel, Kevin, Maryanne, Nick, Oliver, Peter, Rachel, Sam, and Scott.  Also joining us was the three year old daughter of one of the participants who couldn’t go to school today and came along to help out!

We got acquainted over morning tea and then Mahrukh gave a welcome and an introduction and background about the CUE Haven project.  Thomas then gave a safety briefing and description of the work planned for the day.

The plan was to continue to finish off the new walking track at the top of the property.  The section of track we are working on was built across a sloping section of the property and it is therefore prone to erosion.  Soil can wash down from the higher ground onto the track and the track surface can also be washed off onto the lower ground on the other side.

This team picked up where the previous group had left off and the main task for today was to build small retaining walls along a long section of track and if time permitted, to finish off some steps that needed to be boxed in to prevent erosion.  We drove up to the top and went to work.

The work involved a lot of measuring, digging, sawing and hammering.  The first step involved studying the line of the long section of track and cutting away any eroded soil to make a firm foundation for the retaining boards.

The team took extra care to neatly join their new section to the existing track step.

And made sure everything sure it was all level and straight.

They continued down the track, fastening in the long boards.

The boards and joints were secured with pegs.

When one side was finished, the team started the other side, making sure that the track was the proper width.

While most of the group worked on the long retaining walls, a smaller team tackled a curved section that had not been finished off.  They studied the line of the track and determined the best way to complete the curve.  It required a lot of measuring and cutting.

As usual, the boss did office work while the workers roughed it out in the field! 🙂

The team also boxed in some steps that were prone to erosion.  They determined a better way to configure the steps and dug out sections to realign and improve the steps.

Future teams will finish off the boxing and the track will soon be ready.

The entire group should be very proud of their efforts which have made the track much safer, easier and comfortable to walk on.

On the way back to the cottage for a late lunch, we took a leisurely walk so the group could see more of the property and enjoy the growing native forest.

It was a wonderful and very productive day and we want to thank Jim for organizing today’s visit.  We really appreciate your help and support.

A big thank you to everyone who came out today!  We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did.  We very much enjoyed working with you all and do so appreciate your hard work and amazing contribution to CUE Haven.  We were very impressed with your teamwork and commitment to do a good job. It was great to see you all participating fully and working as a team and coming up with good ideas for making the track better.

You have made a much valued and lasting contribution to CUE Haven and New Zealand’s natural heritage and the community. The track you built today will be used and enjoyed by visitors for many years to come as they explore the growing native forest at CUE Haven.

We very much look forward to having you out again for a leisurely visit with your friends and family, and we hope to also see you again for another fun and productive volunteer day.