ANZ North Shore Retail and Business Banking—14 March 2019

Today another hard working team from ANZ joined us to continue to improve the walking tracks at CUE Haven.  This group was made up of executives from the North Shore Retail and Business Banking departments.

The enthusiastic group arrived bright and early and included Ada, Ben K., Ben Z., Dennis, Ella, Guixia, Jacinta, Jennifer, Kylie, Patrick, Rick, Tina and Tony.  Most of the team had been out to CUE Haven in previous years and it was great seeing old friends and welcoming new people.  Also joining us for the day to help out was our good friend, Alan.

We spent some time catching up over morning tea and then Mahrukh gave an overview of the project for those new to CUE Haven and updated the group on current activities and future plans.

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

The plan for the day was to continue to work installing side boards and retaining walls on a long section of track.  We broke the group into two teams.  One group worked with Alan on one end of the track and the other team worked with Thomas near the other end.

We drove up to the work site and went to work.  It was a bit of a hike from the road to where we would be working and the first task was to bring down all the gear.

Alan’s team went to the far end of the track to continue to extend a retaining wall along a steeply benched section of track.  The first task was to install an extra board on an existing wall.

They quickly moved into new territory and had to study the ground and determine the best solution to widen and retain the track.

They went to work, digging out and widening the track.

Once the area was prepared, the team began installing the retaining boards.

Some of the boards had to be cut to size.

And were secured in place with pegs and nails.

As the team moved down the track, the found an area where water had flowed across the track during heavy rain.  They felt that it was only going to get worse and the best solution would be a drain pipe under the track to carry the water.  We brought up a pipe and in no time, they dug a channel across the track and a culvert pit and buried the pipe.

The team accomplished a huge amount of work and made major improvements to the track and should be very proud of their efforts.

In the meantime, Thomas’s team worked at the other end of the track on a different set of challenges.  This section of the track is fairly level, but because of that, the exact layout of the track isn’t always clear and we want to make the path well defined to protect the surrounding vegetation. The solution is to install low sideboards to clearly mark the track and to hold in the gravel we will put down when the track is finished.

The team first needed to outline where the boards would be installed.

Once the layout was determined, the next task was to dig channels for the side boards to sit in.

The team brought down the boards and aligned them along the route.

The sideboards were secured by nailing them to pegs hammered into the ground.

On curved sections of track the boards had to be cut to size.

Getting the boards perfectly aligned while they were being installed took a lot of teamwork.

As the team moved down the track and extended the walls, they needed to keep measuring to make sure everything was straight and even.

The team continued to move down the track, measuring, digging and installing side boards.

In just a few hours the team made major progress moving down the track and greatly improved it’s appearance.  They devised some good solutions to the challenges they encountered and should be proud of their efforts!

The teams finished up at about the same time and brought up all the gear and loaded it in the ute.  Once we were finished in the field, we took a leisurely walk back to the cottage so the group could see more of the property and we then had a relaxing lunch.

We enjoyed seeing the collegiality and teamwork amongst the group and we really enjoyed working with them.  They worked, hard and showed a lot of creativity and energy in coming up with solutions and in just a few hours they greatly improved the appearance and quality of the track. Have a look at all they accomplished.

Many thanks to Linda, the North Shore Business Banking Regional Administrator for making the arrangements for the day and continuing to champion CUE Haven at ANZ.

And we want to thank Alan for all his hard work and continued help and support.  Alan – we really appreciate you taking the time to help out—your expertise and advice have added a lot of value.

A BIG thank you to everyone who came out today!  We very much appreciate your hard work and amazing contribution to CUE Haven. We really enjoyed working with you all and we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did and look forward to having you out again for another fun and productive volunteer day.

And we also look forward to having you out with your friends and family for a leisurely visit soon to explore more of your community native forest reserve.

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!