ANZ Business Banking West Auckland and MMM—September 2020

ANZ continued their fantastic support as staff from West Auckland Business Banking and Mobile Mortgage executives came out to help with the track maintenance.

The group arrived bright and early and included Fion, Frances, Heidi, James, Joseph, Patrick, Rachel, Tyerell and Yao.  James also brought family members Clare, Lachie and Milly along to help out.  Several of the group had been out to CUE Haven last year and it was great to see old friends and meet new ones.

We got acquainted over morning tea and Mahrukh updated the team on the current developments and future plans.

Thomas then described the plan for the day and gave a safety briefing.

The work for the day included continuing remediation work on a section of track near the top of the property and improving some track sections that were showing some erosion.  The first task was to bring down all of the equipment. The group split into two teams to tackle the different tasks.

One team worked on improving a long section of track that will become a main accessway to the viewing platform.  Their main job was clearing and levelling the track and installing side boards.  The team picked up from where earlier groups had left off.

They needed to determine the best way to route the track and how to form the curves.  The job required a lot of planning and measuring.

Once they determined the route, they could install the boards which they cut to the right lengths and secured with stakes and nails.

In no time the entire track section was complete! Well done!!

In the meantime, the other team headed much further down the track to work on a variety of track maintenance issues.

This older section of track has seen a lot of wear and tear and there were a few spots where water had eroded some of the track surface.  The team studied each of these issues and came up with solutions.

A lot of the work required digging out of drainage ditches and levelling the track with spades.

They also removed and repositioned a step which was out of alignment.

One of the biggest challenges was fixing drainage issues on the track as the work required a lot of digging, sawing and nailing.

In some places they had to extend the side boards to prevent further erosion.

Getting everything properly positioned and nailed in place took a lot of teamwork.

The last task the team tackled was to install a side board to connect a section of track with a bridge.

By that time the team working on the upper section of track had finished so everyone joined in to finish off the job.  The first task was digging out a channel for the board and measuring and test fitting the new board.

They cut the board to size.

And everyone had a chance to do some sawing!

The board was fitted in place, secured with pegs and nailed securely.

As a last step, the track surface was levelled off.

The result is a great improvement.

The group finished off the day by laying down a layer of gravel on the new section of track they had completed.  We loaded up buckets full of gravel down in the car park.

And drove up as close as we could to the track and unloaded the buckets.

And the end result is amazing!

Within just a few hours  the teams accomplished an amazing amount of work and should be very proud of their efforts.

Many thanks to Linda and Tyerell for organizing the fun and very productive day.

A special thank you to Clare, Lachie and Milly for joining us today and working hard to clear and trim the overhanging vegetation from the tracks.

THANK YOU everyone for all your hard work and efforts today.  You have all made a major contribution to the CUE Haven project and your efforts will be greatly appreciated by visitors as they comfortably walk the tracks to explore the growing native forest and visit the viewing platform.

We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did and will come back with your family and friends for a more relaxing visit, and back again next year for another fun and productive volunteer day in your community native forest reserve!

Many thanks for your help and continued support!

Thank You!! Thank You!!