Rocket Lab staff have been regularly coming to volunteer at CUE Haven for the past few years and Joshua has been with each of the groups.  Today he brought out some of his Rocket Lab colleagues and friends for a special volunteer day.  Along with Joshua, the group included Erica, Gabe, Guillermo, Julian, Miriam, Naina and Stephanie.

Because the day was less formal than usual, people arrived at various times so as people arrived, Thomas gave safety briefings and took them up to the work site. 

The original plan for the day was to work on reconfiguring the walking track around the fallen bridge on the Tairaire track.  But, earlier that morning Thomas had noticed that the hotwire on the boundary fence was not generating enough electricity so we requested the team to check the hot wire on the boundary fence with our neighbour and trim back any vegetation near the fence as that could have been causing the shortage. 

We estimated that the project would take about an hour or less, but the fence repair was more challenging than originally expected.  We worked in two teams, each team starting at one end of the fence and working toward the middle.

The work involved general clearing of weeds and vegetation along the track, trimming of overhanging branches and also inspection of the hot wire to look for shorts or other problems.

The neighbour grazes cattle and they can be tempted to challenge the fence and make unwelcome visits to CUE Haven, especially in spring when the trees along the fence line start sending out tempting green shoots, so it is really important that the hot wire is functioning at its maximum capacity.

Plus, after winter storms there can be a lot of branches and twigs that might interfere with the operation of the electric fence.

The team went to work with loppers.

The team also enjoyed the views from various points along the boundary.

We made repairs to the fence and hot wire when issues were identified.

When two fence sections meet and the hot wire can’t be routed around the corner, it is necessary to install insulated jumper wire to connect the two sections.  Over time, the insulation can break down and cause shorts and the team identified two areas where current was being lost at the joins.  They used their engineering and mechanical skills to fix the cabling.

The first step involved removing the old cable.

A new cable wire was prepared.

And installed.

The enthusiastic team carried on and covered the entire fenceline.

The team made significant improvements to the fence and also very importantly managed to clear away vegetation that might have been too tempting for the neighbour’s cows.  When we finished with the fence work, we headed down to tackle the bridge.

During the storms last year, the CUE Haven stream overflowed in areas, and we saw considerable erosion near the bridge that joins the Taraire track to the Riroriro track.  To prevent damage to the track, we installed timber retainer planks to support the track and prevent further erosion.  After another storm this past August, the stream once again overflowed and further eroded the bank.  Although our wood retainer planks held up, a very big Ti Kouka tree next to the bridge was undermined and fell across the stream.  The deep roots of the tree pulled away and undermined the bridge supports, causing it to collapse.

The bridge collapse has made the Taraire track unusable and created some challenges along the Riroriro track.  We requested the team to use their creative and engineering skills to come up with solutions.

Thomas explained what had happened and advised the team that there were three big questions to deal with.  First was how to re-establish a stream crossing to connect the two tracks, what to do about the existing bridge and third, how to restore the Riroriro track, where a big section had disappeared.

The team went to work, discussing and debating solutions.

One option is to try to restore the Riroriro track, but aside from requiring a huge amount of work, there may be a continuing risk of future erosion.  The agreed upon solution was to reroute the Riroriro track around the back of the installed benches.

The next question was how much work would be necessary to retain and fix the eroded area.  The team decided to check how stable the ground on that side was.

The team determined that once the downed bridge is removed, earthworks to channel the stream and prevent further erosion can be undertaken.

While most of the team worked on that issue, Gabe scouted out a new location for crossing the steam and linking the tracks.  His solution involves extending the Taraire track parallel to the stream and then crossing over at a point where the stream banks are stable and relatively even.

He explored the area and cleared some of the vegetation.

The weather forecast had been for rain and thunder starting mid-morning, but fortunately it held off till lunch time. We took all the gear back to the nursery and then had a relaxing lunch.

A big thank you to Josh for organising the day and bringing out your colleagues and friends. 

And many many thanks to everyone for giving up your Saturday and working so hard.  We enjoyed spending time with you all and working with you and we so appreciate your help.  You accomplished a lot and have made a major contribution to CUE Haven. Future teams will implement your ideas on repairing the stream crossing.

We look forward to seeing all of you again soon for a relaxing visit to explore more of CUE Haven and also for another fun and productive volunteer day.

Thank You!! Thank You!!