Today we welcomed our friends from ANZ’s North Shore business team for another day of volunteering.   It’s always great having the North Shore business team out—for most of the group it was their fifth time to volunteer at CUE Haven and for some it was their seventh time!

Allan, Ada, Daniel, Dennis, Ella, Hunter, Jin, Keith, Kim, Kylie, Maryanne, Miki, Nary, Shrenik and ZhenZhen were joined by David and Jarat from the corporate insurance division of Gallagher Insurance, ANZ’s strategic partner.

It was great seeing old friends and meeting the new team members. We spent some time catching up over morning tea and then Thomas gave a safety briefing and described the work planned for the day.

The plan was to continue to work on improving some old sections of walking track.  Because of the size of the group, we split into three teams and went to work.

The first task was carrying all the gear down to the work sites.

Two teams worked on repairing some track sections in which side boards had moved out of alignment.

Often the best solution was digging out the old board, using a string line to determine the correct line of the track and digging out a new channel for the side board.

In keeping with the CUE Haven ethos of sustainability, they tried to preserve and reuse as much of the old timber as possible which involved re-installing the old board and realigning it.

As they finished one section, they moved on fix another.

When they finished with the side board repair, they cleaned and improved the drains along another section of track.  This will help keep the track dry during the wet winter months.

The second group worked further up the track.  They tackled a section where there were gaps between side boards. 

The job required measuring spots where new board sections were needed and digging out the old boards.

Replacing the small sections required a lot of sawing to make new sections.

The teams made such good progress that Thomas had to make extra trips down to the workshop to cut additional stakes.

The track teams also reinstalled a sign which had been knocked down by falling trees during the cyclone last year.

And they made friends with a weta.

The third team worked on the intersection the Titoki and Kohekohe tracks which needed side boards. 

They took some time studying the area to come up with the best approach.

They started digging channels for the new side boards.

Although we reused a lot of timber, some sections needed to be fitted with new boards and we brought them up.

The side boards were then fitted and secured in place.

As they finished a section they moved down the track.

The boards were cut to size as necessary.

One of the other teams finished off their sections and joined in to help out.

The improvements to the track are amazing.

The teams got together to finish off their sections by putting down a layer of gravel.  Because the track sections were far apart we broke into two teams, each using a different gravel pile.

The buckets were carried down to the track sections.

The buckets were dumped on the track and the gravel was raked smooth.

As the buckets were emptied, they were carried back and refilled.

The track sections have been completely transformed and look fantastic.

We brought down all the gear and had a well deserved lunch.

The group today accomplished an amazing amount of work and tackled some unusual challenges and showed a lot of teamwork, energy and creativity in coming up with solutions.  We really enjoyed working with all of you and really appreciate your efforts.

Our many thanks to Allan for organising the day and for championing CUE Haven within ANZ.

And a huge THANK YOU to the entire team.  We so appreciate your hard work and help. You have all made a wonderful contribution to CUE Haven and all your hard work and efforts are greatly appreciated.

We look forward to having you back out with your family and friends for a leisurely visit to explore of your community reserve -CUE Haven, and, also returning next year for another fun and productive volunteer day.

Thank You!! Thank You!!