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 team from the corporate office join us to help out with some track maintenance.

The team arrived first thing in the morning and included Charlotte, Chris, Julie, Michael, Michelle and Vaun.

Because almost everyone was new to CUE Haven, we spent some time getting acquainted 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 plan for the day was to continue to work on improving an old walking track section.  We drove up to the top of the property and then walked down to the work site to give the team a chance to see more of the CUE Haven property and how the walking tracks have been constructed.

A steep section of the CUE Haven walking track is ten years old and the steps are showing signs of wear.  There are also some steps that are quite high and we felt that visitors would appreciate smaller steps after a long uphill walk.  We requested the team to determine if they could re-engineer them.  It was a big challenge because it required re-imagining how the steps could be redone.

The team took some time to study the situation and come up with some ideas.

They took some measurements and tested some different approaches and decided that adding a new step and repositioning some of the old steps would enable them to make all of the other steps shorter.  They broke into two smaller teams with one team starting at the top and the second working up from the bottom. 

They used both the low tech . . .

. . . and high tec methods to figuring out the positioning and alignment of the steps.

Then then went to work digging out the affected steps and side boards to make room for the new step. (click on individual pictures to enlarge and see a slide show).

The step risers are held in place with stakes.  Some of the old stakes had been installed on the outside of the riser and the team removed them and put new stakes on the back so the stakes will now be out of sight.

Once the step risers were in place, they could replace the side boards.  Where possible they reused the old boards but we needed new timber for some sections.

They measured the new sections and cut the timber to size.

The side boards were fitted in place and secured with pegs and nails.

The replacement boards were nailed to the sides of the risers for additional stability.

They even took the time to saw off a high corner to make the job look more professional.

In a few hours of hard work, the teams had transformed the steps, improving their appearance as well as ease of use.  Visitors will benefit and thank them for their efforts.

Today was an amazingly productive day thanks to everyone’s enthusiasm and hard work.  Everyone contributed good ideas and lots of energy and we were really impressed by the teamwork and collegiality of the team.  The solutions the team came up with for fixing steps will help guide future teams as we continue to improve our walking track network.

When we were finished, the team gathered all the gear and we went down for a very late but well earned lunch.

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

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for all your 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 back again next year for another productive and fun volunteer day!

Thank You! Thank You!