ASB—8 July 2021

ASB is one of the five big banks in New Zealand and has a strong commitment to community service.  Teams from ASB have been volunteering at CUE Haven over the years and today we were very happy to have a group from the Major Commercial Bank division join us to help out with some track maintenance.

The team included Christine, Danny, Jason, Matthew, Sam, Simon and Scott. 

Also joining us during his university break was one of our regular young volunteers, Yazdy.

We spent some time getting acquainted over morning tea and because most of the team was new to CUE Haven, Mahrukh then gave an overview of the CUE Haven project and our current activities and plans.

Thomas gave a safety briefing and overview of the work plan for the day.

The plan for the day was to work on improving an old section of walking track.   Thomas had earlier delivered the timber and tools to the entry to the walking track and the first task was to carry everything down to the work site.

The long section of track needed side boards to protect against erosion.  Because we were working in a small area and had a small team, everyone worked together to help out with the different tasks.

The first task was to study the track issues and come up with creative solutions.  They checked the proper layout of the track and test fitted the side boards.

The project involved a lot of digging.  Once the team decided on the proper layout for the track, they dug out channels for the side boards on each side of the track.

Once the channels were dug, the side boards could be positioned and secured in place with pegs.

As each section was finished, they carried on down the track, continuing to dig and place the boards and secure them.

It was necessary to continually check to make sure the track was straight and the side boards parallel.  There was also some challenging corners to deal with.

Everyone got a chance to do a variety of tasks from digging to nailing.

The hard working team made so much progress we had to bring up an additional load of timber.

The team wanted to completely finish off the section they’d worked on so we finished it off with a layer of gravel to make the track suitable for all year and all weather use.  We went down to the car park and loaded up buckets with gravel.

We drove the buckets up as close as possible and carried them down to the work site.

Once they got to the end of the track the gravel was dumped on the track and raked smooth.

The empty buckets were taken back up and refilled and three loads of gravel were put down.

The team managed to improve over 16 metres of track.  They did an amazing job and the end result is a great looking track that will be enjoyed by visitors exploring CUE Haven.  Great job team!

Today was an amazingly productive day thanks to everyone’s hard work and enthusiasm.  When we were finished, they brought up all the gear and we went down for a very late but well deserved lunch.

Our many thanks to Christine for organising the team’s visit today.

Also a big thank you to Yazdy for joining us and helping out once again.

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for all their hard work and efforts today. It was great chatting with you all and we thoroughly enjoyed working with you.  You have all made a major contribution to CUE Haven and your efforts will be greatly appreciated by visitors as they comfortably walk the tracks to explore the growing native forest.

We look forward to having you all out to CUE Haven soon to explore more of your community native forest reserve with your family and friends. And also back again for another productive volunteer day!

Many Thanks again!!