CUE Haven Open Days—17 & 18 March 2018

This year is the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Glorit, the settlement where CUE Haven is located.  To commemorate the occasion, our neighbours at Mataia held an open weekend where visitors could explore the Glorit homestead and gardens and learn about the early settlers.  We decided to also hold open days at CUE Haven so visitors would have a chance to explore more of the Kaipara area.

We’ve spent the past few weeks trying to get the property looking its best for the open weekend and that’s been a challenge because the warm, wet summer has meant that the weeds have been growing as happily as the trees!  But with the help of lots of volunteers, we were ready on time.

We invited people to come any time on either Saturday or Sunday to say hi, explore the property and to bring a picnic if they wanted.

Over the two days we had good weather and a nice steady stream of visitors.

Most guests wanted to walk around the property, so we gave them maps of the walking track network and some safety information and encouraged them to explore.

Visitors also had a chance to see the history of the CUE Haven project by looking at photo books showcasing the restoration work and photos of the volunteers who have contributed to the project.  Many people had a chance to see pictures of themselves at work!

And everyone had a chance to sample (and buy) some of our first harvest of CUE Haven honey from the bee hives on the property.

It was great to see guests spending time meeting each other and relaxing together.

We had a really nice weekend spending time with old friends, our volunteers and meeting new people.

We’d like to thank Nestle NZ for providing Nescafe coffee and Nescafe menu sachets for our visitors to enjoy.

A big thank you to Yazdy and Xerxes, who came out on Friday and Saturday to help us get set up and welcome guests.

And we’d especially like to thank everyone who made the trip out to CUE Haven to say hi.  It was great seeing everyone and thank you for your interest and continued support.  We look forward to seeing you all again soon!