Since 2014, international students from Orewa College have come to CUE Haven to help out and also learn a little about New Zealand plants and animals and today we welcomed another group of students from Austria, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany and Japan.

Joining us were Alina, Anna O, Anna T, Charlotte, Emilia, Emma, Fynn, Jeronimo, Josefina, Kake, Kokoro, Lev, Lisbeth, Martin, Sina, Sofia, Sophie, Tomas, Wilhelmine and Yume.  Also joining the group were teachers Bruce Hume and Sue McCarthy.

We spent some time getting acquainted over morning tea and Mahrukh gave an overview of the CUE Haven project.  Thomas then gave a description of the activities planned for the day and a safety briefing.

The plan for the day was to break into groups and do some spring maintenance work.  One group worked on clearing the drains along the tracks which may have been blocked by leaves and sticks after winter rains and the other group worked on trimming back vegetation that had grown over tracks during the summer.

Because of the number of students, we had to drive up to the work site in two groups.  Thomas took one group up to Te Rite o Taranaki to wait while be brought up the second group.

In the meantime, the second group worked on doing some weeding around the nursery shed.

Once everyone was on site, Thomas took some time pointing out features of the Kaipara Harbour and Araparera River and the surrounding area.

We then walked down to the main race and went to work.

Drain Clearing

Along steep sections of the race we have drainage ditches to channel water away from the road and protect it from erosion and washouts.  After winter rains, the drains and pipes can get blocked with leaves, gravel and twigs which reduces their effectiveness.  We requested some of the students to walk down the track and clear the drains as they went.

The students used spades and rakes and hands to clear the drains.

As they cleared an area they moved down the road to the next section that needed attention.

They managed to clear long stretch of drain system. A big thank you to the team for accomplishing so much on such an important but messy job!

Trimming

Most of the students worked on trimming vegetation that had grown over the main race to make it easier for the service ute to move volunteers and gear around the property. 

Before we got started, Thomas gave a brief explanation and demo for the trimming work. We started near the top of the race and worked down so the group had a chance to explore different parts of the property.

Sue helped out by tackling some troublesome vines growing over some of the trees.

As the students finished an area, they moved down the road.

As they worked, they got a chance to observe a variety of native NZ birds and plants, including the silver fern.

In just a couple of hours the hard working group managed to trim back a large section of the main race. Well done!!

Track Metalling

The last task of the day was to help finish off the repairs to the Taraire and Riroriro tracks by putting down a layer of metal to make the tracks ready for year round use.  For the past two months, we have been working on repairing damage done by stream flooding with washed out the bridge connecting the Taraire and Riroriro track and this was the last major step in the repair work.

We filled buckets with gravel.

The buckets were loaded onto the truck and then driven to the end of the Taraire track where they were unloaded and carried down to the new track sections.

Once we got to the site, the gravel was dumped onto the track sections and raked in.

Thanks to the students’ hard work, the track is looking great and ready for summer visitors.

At the end of the day, all of the teams packed up the gear and brought it back down and had a well-deserved and relaxing lunch.

We want to thank Adrienne Croad, Director of International Students at Orewa College for organizing the visit and continuing to champion CUE Haven at Orewa College. And a big thank you to Bruce and Sue for all your help today.

And a special thanks to all the students for all their hard work today.  We really appreciated your enthusiasm and hard work and hope you enjoyed the day.  You have made a great contribution to CUE Haven and visitors will definitely appreciate your efforts to clean up and beautify the walking tracks and roads—Many thanks!

We hope you have a great stay in New Zealand and wish you much happiness and success in your studies and all your endeavours.   And we hope that someday you all come back to visit CUE Haven.