Today our good friends from the Westpac corporate human resources group were back once again to help with some track maintenance.  The team arrived first thing in the morning and included Afiafi, Andrea, Andrew, Deepa, Inge, Max, Nikita and Rachel.  Also joining us were young adults Cady, Damean and Iliane.

We spent some time catching up over morning tea and then Mahrukh gave a brief overview of the CUE Haven project and our plans for the future for the benefit of team members who were new to CUE Haven.

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

You are probably as tired of hearing about our cyclone remediation work as we are of doing it!  But that’s what we requested the group to help out with today and they tackled two big challenges.

We broke into two teams.  One team worked on clearing mud off of the stump that had fallen on the Ruru track so that we can chainsaw it down to a manageable size and the other team worked on shoring up a section of track that runs along the stream and which was undermined when the stream overflowed during the heavy rains.

Ruru Track

During the cyclone, a big 150+ year old kahikatea fell across the Ruru track, completely blocking it.  Our friend Paul cleared the track but in a later storm, the stump and root ball of the tree fell onto the track, blocking it again.

The stump is too heavy to move and it can’t be cut to a manageable size with chainsaws because it is caked with mud.  Chainsaws become instantly dulled when they come in contact with soil.

In order to try to get the stump to the point where we can cut it up, we requested the team to try to remove as much soil as possible and to cut off whatever bits they could with hand saws.

We drove as close as we could and then carried the gear down to the site.

The storm that brought down the stump also brought down a lot of smaller trees and branches on the Ruru and adjacent Riroriro track.  Part of the team went to work with loppers and rakes and got the tracks looking good (see section on trimming below).

The rest of the team took a look at the stump to figure out the best way to approach the job.

Spades were used to get most of the surface clay off.

The team was kept company by New Zealand giant centipedes who had taken up residence in the old tree stump and the team met six of them.  They had to be treated carefully because they have a nasty bite which isn’t dangerous but can be quite painful.

Once some of the roots were exposed, the team could cut them off with hand saws and loppers.

They raked the soil knocked off the stump off the track.

The team managed to clear off a substantial amount of the stump and importantly trim away some of the roots so that it’s now possible to use the track.  The remaining clay is still very wet and hard to dislodge so we will let it dry out and future teams will clean up the stump to the point that it can be cut up.  A massive thank you to the team for doing a very messy and challenging job.

Walking Track Repair

The Riroriro track runs alongside the CUE Haven stream at several points and the stream severely overflowed during the rains and cyclone. Fortunately, the bridge over the stream, which is anchored with concrete and built into the bank wasn’t affected but a portion of the track was undermined when the stream came through.

The weight of people walking on the track surface could further damage the track and potentially cause the side board to fall away.  So we requested the other team to take on the challenge of repairing the track and making sure it would be secure in the event of future rains.

We drove up as close as we could and carried the gear down to the work site.

The team took some time to study the situation and figure out the best solution.

Alternatives included rerouting the track, building a bridge or boardwalk or shoring up the damaged section.  They did some exploratory digging to determine the extent of the damage.

After digging out some of the damaged bits, budding engineer, Damean, suggested an idea to repair the track using a combination of bridging and shoring.  Everyone agreed that would be the best approach.  Because the bridge is solid, they decided that they could connect new, thicker boards between the bridge and the solid section of the track and insert more boards over the weak area. 

They measured to determine the length of the boards needed.

The boards were cut to size.

The main board was fitted in place.

And then dug in securely.

The board was then fastened securely to the bridge.

Once the first board was in tightly, the other boards were laid down and secured from below.

Inge and Cady took on one of the messiest jobs possible—they got down into the stream and dug out the bed to channel the water away from the track to help prevent future washouts.

Additional framing was installed to support the new boards.

To fully restore the track and to prevent dirt and stones from falling into the stream, the team installed a vertical side board.  They measured and cut the board to size.

A channel for the board was dug out to securely connect the existing track with the repaired section.

The board was nailed in place and secured with pegs.

They raked soil over the boards, restoring the track.

As a final step, they filled buckets with gravel and brought them down to dump on the track.

This track repair job is an amazing accomplishment of teamwork, creativity and hard work and we a really grateful to Damean for his engineering solution and the whole team for their fantastic efforts.

Trimming

Cutting back vegetation growing over roads and tracks is an ongoing task at CUE Haven.  While Thomas got one team started in the field clearing the tree stump, the other team did some trimming around the driveway and car park.

Later on, a couple of members of the track team also took turns clearing away overhanging branches along the track they were working on.

And since the work area for cleaning the tree stump was cramped, some of the tree stump team worked on clearing the adjacent tracks.

Thanks to their efforts the tracks are looking much neater.

Today’s Westpac team accomplished an amazing amount of work.  It was a very productive day and we really enjoyed working with everyone and also enjoyed many interesting conversations. Thanks everyone!!

A big thank you to Inge for organising the day and handling the logistics.

And a huge THANK YOU to the entire team and special thanks to Cady, Damean and Iliane for their enthusiasm and working so hard. We hope you all enjoyed the day as much as we did. You accomplished a lot and have made a major contribution to CUE Haven and we really appreciate your efforts. Very much looking forward to having you all back for another fun and productive volunteer day and also for leisurely visits with your family and friends.

Thank You!! Thank You!!