Orewa College—7 November 2017

The international exchange program at Orewa College north of Auckland provides international students with an opportunity to experience New Zealand culture and natural heritage.  In addition to regular course work, the international students can participate in a New Zealand Experience class where they do outdoor activities, take trips and learn more about New Zealand.

For the last four years, international students from Orewa College have come to CUE Haven to help out and also learn a little about New Zealand plants and animals.

Today’s group included students from Argentina, Germany and Italy and joining us were Benedetta, Edoardo, Isabella, Jakob, Maivi, Marta, Martina, Sofia and Solana.  Cecelia Tyne of Orewa College led the group and she was assisted by Stan Parker, a friend and supporter of Orewa College.  Both Cecelia and Stan have been to CUE Haven several times before.

We spent some time getting acquainted over morning tea and then Mahrukh gave an overview of the CUE Haven project.

Thomas then gave a description of the work planned for the day and a safety briefing.

We had a warm, wet winter and an unusually wet spring which means that everything is growing—good stuff and weeds!  We asked the students to trim back vegetation that was growing over the roads and walking tracks and also cut out some weeds that were cropping up as well.

It gave the students a chance to learn a little bit about native New Zealand plants and some of the challenges of forest restoration. Plus they also got a chance to enjoy a beautiful spring day outdoors.

After finishing a large section of roadway and walking track, it was time for a relaxing lunch.  Then the hard working group went back to work to do some weeding and trimming in the orchard and down to the front gate.

We found out that it was Maivi’s birthday today so we all sang Happy Birthday and celebrated with an improvised birthday cake of biscuits.

We really enjoyed working with the group and were very impressed with what they were able to accomplish in such a short period of time.

We want to thank Adrienne Croad, International Students Development Manager for organising the visit and continuing to champion CUE Haven at Orewa College.

A big thank you to Cecelia and Stan for helping out.  It was great seeing you both again and we really appreciate all your hard work and help.

And a special thanks to all the students for all their hard work today.  We appreciate your efforts and hope you enjoyed the day.  We enjoyed working with you—you all made a great contribution to our efforts and helped us get CUE Haven ready for the summer season when we will have a lot of visitors who will walk along the tracks you helped clean up and beautify—Thanks!

We hope you have a great stay in New Zealand and wish you happiness and success in your studies and all your endeavours.   And we hope that someday you will come back to New Zealand and visit CUE Haven too!!

Thanks Again!!