Overseas Chinese Association—16 June 2018

Our 2018 planting season finished off on a high note as our friends from the NZ Chapter of the Overseas Chinese Association combined a day of planting with their annual Dragon Boat Festival.  This is the fourth year in a row that the OCA have planted at CUE Haven and it was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones.   We were also joined by a group of enthusiastic Asian students who wanted to help out with tree planting.

The Overseas Chinese Association group members included Adonis, Andy, Benjamin, Cheng Huei, Chien-Chow, Cindy, Elaine, Grace, Heidi, Hsi-Hao, Ifsen, Jo, Joy, Julia, Lassie, Lauren, Lawden, Linda, Maria, Pearl, Rose, Ruby, Sam, Simon, and Wan.

The student volunteers included Carrie, Cheng, Nina, Yang and Yolanda.

We started out with a leisurely morning tea to give everyone a chance to get acquainted. Thank you Nestle NZ for providing the variety of Nescafe menus coffees for our volunteers.

Mahrukh then gave the group an update on the latest developments at CUE Haven and Thomas did a safety briefing and description of the work planned for the day.

The plan for the day was to do infill planting in an area that had originally been planted in 2010.  The pioneer trees have grown up and created the right environment to plant long-lived canopy trees and today the group planted totara, puriri and kohekohe.  While some of the group planted, the rest worked to trim vegetation that had over grown along the road and walking tracks.

The first task was to get up to the work site.  Thomas drove up a group in the ute, but a lot chose to take advantage of the great weather and walk up.

Thomas then gave a planting demo and a reminder of safety issues and the group went to work.

As the planting team moved through the bush, the trimming team followed closely behind.  They trimmed back vegetation that had grown out into the track.

In a little over an hour, the hard working group managed to plant all the trees we had!  We all took a leisurely walk back to the cottage for the special Dragon Boat Festival lunch.

They also took time to clean and put away the equipment—Thanks!

While most of the team was in the field, a few people stayed behind to prepare the lunch which included tasty sticky rice dumplings, ginger soup, vegetable soup, chicken and salads.

Everyone then had a fun and relaxing lunch.

Maria, who has been a frequent visitor at CUE Haven is finishing up her four year posting as Vice Consul with the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Auckland and will be leaving New Zealand next month.  She and gave a farewell speech to the group. Maria, we wish you all the best in your new posting and hope you will come back to see us when you visit New Zealand in the future.

We had a fantastic day with everyone and we were very happy to have been able to meet up with old friends and make new friends.

We want to thank Adonis for all his help with organising his group’s visit and also, our thanks to Nina for bringing her family and friends along today.

And a special BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came today. We very much appreciate your friendship, your enthusiasm and hard work and your continued support of our efforts at CUE Haven.

You have all made a major contribution not only to CUE Haven but also to our planet and the community. Clearing the overgrown vegetation will encourage new growth in the trees.  The new trees you planted today are a lasting legacy and will live for hundreds of years and provide a wonderful habitat for numerous plant and animal life and also create a wonderful native nature reserve for the whole community to enjoy for many generations.

Many Thanks again!!  We’re very much looking forward to having you visit again soon.