Our 2024 volunteer season got off to a great start with a special team of volunteers.  In January 2013, Katherine was participant in the very first Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award gold residential we had at CUE Haven.  We were very happy when Katherine got in touch about bringing some friends out for a volunteer day. 

The group arrived first thing in the morning and included Alice, Jamie, Katherine, Ollie, Paul and Simon.  Jamie had also participated in a DoEHA gold award residential in 2015.

We spent some time catching up over morning tea and getting reacquainted and acquainted with the new people and bringing everyone up to date on activities at CUE Haven and our plans for the future.

We then drove up to the viewing platform and walked down to the area where we would be working.  On the way, the team got to see some of the projects Katherine, Jamie and other Duke of Ed Award students had worked on, and Katherine and Jamie could see how the landscape had changed.

Jamie was hoping to find a rimu tree he had planted during his residential visit!

Here is Jamie after planting the tree in 2015.

And the rimu tree now is almost as tall as Jamie now!

Further along the track, we went down a set of steps Katherine and the team had worked on in 2013.

And today the team recreated the picture of the original team in 2013. Katherine hasn’t changed much but the landscape has!

We continued our downhill trek identifying more of the tracks the various Duke of Ed teams had built over the years.

We passed a bench Jamie had worked on building and installing in 2015.

And yes, it is still  a comfortable spot to relax and enjoy the bush!

Along the walk down the team also helped reinstall a few signs that had fallen down.

We then got down to the work area and broke into two groups. 

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 some general track fixup projects.

Ruru Track

During the cyclone last year, 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. 

We have been working to remove as much soil as possible so the stump can be cut down to size and Jamie, Oliver and Paul went to work with spades, hand saws, pokers and brushes to continue the job.

It was a messy and tedious job but the team kept at it and the stump is now clean enough that we can start to chop it up.

Track Work

Alice, Katherine and Simon worked on some walking track improvements.   A small bridge over a drainage ditch was starting to sag and we wanted to repair it before it got any worse. 

The team studied the situation and decided that the top of the bridge was still good and that replacing the supporting boards was all that was needed.

The first task was uplifting the bridge and removing the top boards.  The damaged foundation boards were removed and measurements were taken for the new boards.

We cut the new boards in the nursery and brought them up to install.

End boards were nailed to the new foundation boards to stabilize the structure.

The new foundation boards were slightly longer than the old boards to improve the strength of the bridge and a new top board had to be cut to fill in the gap.

The top boards were then nailed in place and the bridge is better than ever.

The other task the team tackled was to clear away overhanging vegetation from the Otakamaitu bridge so that visitors can get a better view of the pools.

After a morning of hard work in mixed weather (wind, rain and sunshine all morning), we headed down for a relaxing late lunch.  Jamie got a chance to enjoy the upcycled table he had helped build out of the old water trough bathtubs.

Katherine and Jamie—it was great seeing you both again and great meeting your lovely friends. We had a fantastic time and really enjoyed working with you all and appreciate all of your hard work. We also enjoyed the many interesting conversations.  

We looking forward to seeing you all again for another fun and productive day and we hope you will continue to visit CUE Haven often to enjoy your many contributions to your community reserve.

Thank You!! Thank You!!