The Warehouse Group—3 June 2022

The Warehouse Group is New Zealand’s largest retailer.  They have a strong commitment to people and the environment and have become regular volunteers at CUE Haven.  Today we were very happy to once again have a group of professionals from the Insights and Data Science Team to help us out.

The group arrived bright and early and included Aga, Andrew, Chris, Courtney, CS, Daisy, Harry, Heike, Ian, Jamie, Jo, Karl, Kathryn, Keryn, Linda, Livvy, Mahtab, Nica, Stacey and Stuart.  Also joining us for the day was our friend and Warehouse alumna Romina and our good friend and regular volunteer Alan.

We spent some time catching up over morning tea and then Mahrukh gave a short talk on the CUE Haven project and our current activities and future plans.

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

The primary plan for the day was to continue to work on upgrading a section of walking track, but we also had a couple of other small jobs we requested the team to help with.  Because of the size of the group, we broke into four teams. 

Three teams went with Alan to start working on the track.

The fourth joined Thomas to assist with some other tasks with the help of some sparkling new tools and gear courtesy The Warehouse Glenfield branch. Carl –Many thanks!!

Planting

We had some kahikatea trees to add to the grove of kahikateas in one of the wetlands. Thomas’ team loaded the trees and gear into the ute and drove to the site.

Once on site, we took the trees out and worked away planting them. 

Working together, it didn’t take long for the team to plant all the trees.

The team then helped us move some benches from the field into the nursery where they will be needed for activities next week.

Once we finished moving the benches, the team joined the track teams working in the field.

Track Work

Thomas had earlier taken the gear up to the track site and because we were going to be working on a section of the track deep in the bush, the first task was to carry the tools and equipment down to the work site.

On the way down we encountered a tree that had fallen across the track so the first task was to get it out of the way.

Once the track was clear, we went to work.  The main job was to straighten and improve an old section of track by installing side boards.  Each of the teams tackled a different section of track. Installing the side boards involved digging out channels for the boards and securing them in place with pegs.   The first task was planning the work.

And then doing a lot of digging.

Once the channels were dug the side boards could be installed.

The boards were secured in place with pegs and that job required a lot of pounding and nailing.

A lot of the longer boards had to be cut to size.

Finishing a section called for a break!

Throughout the day showers swept over us from time to time, but they didn’t last long and the sun came out immediately after.

Stacey was very popular as she delivered biscuits to the hard workers.

After a couple of hours labouring the teams completed a long section of track. The next task was to put down a layer of gravel to make the track easy to use in all weather.

We loaded up buckets of gravel.

We then drove as close to the site as we could and from there, the buckets were carried to the track where they were dumped and the gravel raked in.

The empty buckets were taken back up and refilled.

By lunchtime the teams had upgraded and totally transformed a long section of track. The teams worked really hard and accomplished a huge amount of work, exceeding our expectations for the day.  They made major improvements to the track and should be very proud of their efforts.  Have a look at the track before and after!

What a fantastic improvement!!!

Once we were finished, the team brought down all the gear, cleaned up and had a relaxing lunch.

We really enjoyed the day—it was great seeing the collegiality and teamwork amongst everyone in the group and they showed a lot of creativity and energy in coming up with solutions to the track challenges.

Many thanks to Keryn for continuing to champion CUE Haven at the Warehouse and Chris for organising the volunteer day. And Kar, thanks for arranging the contribution of some much needed tools and equipment—they are really appreciated and will be well used.

Many thanks also to Romina for coming out to join us for the day. It was great seeing you again and having you join the team.

And our heartfelt thanks to our dear friend 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 add a lot of value.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out today!  We very much appreciate your hard work and amazing contribution to CUE Haven. 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!!