Since 2015, international students from Orewa College have come to CUE Haven to help out and also learn a little about New Zealand plants and animals and today we welcomed another group of students from Belgium, Germany and Japan. 

Joining us were Alizee, Clara, Haru, Jonathan, Jula, Julia, Koharu, Mascha, Sota, Yuzuki. The students from Japan had previously been to CUE Haven in May and we were very happy that they chose to come back for another visit.  Also joining the group were year 10 students Angelica and Cayden and supervisors Catherine Douglas and Trixie Croad.

We spent some time getting acquainted over morning tea and then Mahrukh gave an overview of the CUE Haven project.

Thomas gave a description of the activities planned for the day and a safety briefing.

The plan for the day was to work on a variety of maintenance tasks.  One group worked with Trixie to clear the drains on the main race to prevent damage to the road in the event of heavy rains and two groups went with Catherine and Thomas to work on some walking track improvements.

Walking Track Improvements

The first task was to carry all the gear out to the work area.

One of the first walking track sections built at CUE Haven is now over ten years old and showing some signs of wear and tear.  Ground movement had shifted some of the side boards and although it didn’t impact the safety of the track, we wanted to improve the appearance by straightening up and realigning some of the side boards.

The team used string lines to determine the proper alignment of the track sections they worked on.

They then raked back the gravel to expose the side board and to enable us to reuse the gravel.

The next challenge was digging out the old boards and cutting the new line of the track.

Once the new track line was ready, the side boards could be reinstalled.

We wanted to reuse as much of the old timber as possible, but sometimes realigning the track meant the boards no longer fit and had to be cut to size.

The boards were then re-installed and held in place with pegs and nailed securely.

It took teamwork to get the boards lined up just right.

In just a few hours, the team improved a long section of track and it’s looking better than ever. Great work! Many thanks team!

The other team worked on two different track challenges.

Piriti Maharanoa connects the Puriri and Kukupa tracks by crossing the CUE Haven stream in the wetlands.  After the heavy rain we’ve had this year, the stream has overflowed and flooded a section of the track.  The solution was to dig a channel to direct the water back under the bridge and the team tackled the very messy job.

The track had become so boggy we had to put a plank down for visitors to cross!

The new channel is already working to divert water from the track and in no time the track will be high and dry!

The next task was an engineering challenge.  When the track was originally built a bench was installed on a platform at what was then bit of a lookout point and retaining walls were build around the platform.  As the bush has grown up, the location is no longer a lookout point.  Furthermore, ground movement had damaged the retaining boards around the platform.  As a result, we decided to remove the bench and eliminate the platform so that it can be planted out next winter.

The first task was to recover the gravel on the platform so that it could be reused elsewhere on the track and also to prepare the area for planting.

Once the area was cleared off, the side boards were removed and the ground was leveled.  The next task was to try to remove the bench by digging out around the supporting legs.

It soon became apparent that the bench had been firmly cemented into the ground.  The team put on goggles and broke up as much of the concrete as possible.

It turned out to be a bigger job than planned, but the team made a great start of freeing the bench and future teams will finish the job and relocate the bench to another area.

The team tackled some big challenges  – well done and thank you very much!!

 Drain Clearing

The heavy rains this past summer and fall did significant damage to the CUE Haven infrastructure, especially the steep sections of the main race.  We had professionals fix the damage and also improve the drainage of the road to prevent similar problems in the future.

In order for the system to work, we have to keep the drains and pipe clear and Trixie’s team helped out with that job.

The drains get blocked with both vegetation and also dirt and rocks and the students used spades, rakes and hands as they worked.

They managed to clear long stretch of drain system. A big thank you to the team for accomplishing so much on such an important but messy job!

At the end of the day, all of the teams packed up the gear and brought it back down and had a well-deserved and relaxing lunch.

We want to thank Adrienne Croad, Director of International Students at Orewa College for organizing the visit and continuing to champion CUE Haven at Orewa College. And thank you also to Sally for help with arranging the Year 10 student visit. And a big thank you to Catherine and Trixie for all your help today. 

And a special thanks to all the students for all their hard work today.  We appreciated your enthusiasm and efforts and hope you enjoyed the day.  You have made a great contribution to CUE Haven and visitors will definitely appreciate your efforts to clean up and beautify the walking tracks and roads—Many thanks!

We hope you have a great stay in New Zealand and wish you much happiness and success in your studies and all your endeavours.   And we hope that someday you all come back to visit CUE Haven.