Today a group of finance professionals from Westpac bank helped us with a variety of walking track maintenance projects.  The team arrived first thing in the morning and included Andrew, Cydney, Geetika, Jay, Josh, Karishma, Keira, Kevin, Mitchell, Ryan, Shaun and Swayam.

Because almost everyone in the group was new to CUE Haven, we took some time to get acquainted over morning tea.  Mahrukh gave an introduction to the CUE Haven project.

Thomas then gave a safety briefing and a description of the work planned for the day.

The plan for the day was to continue our spring walking track maintenance work.

Because of the size of the group, we split into two teams. 

One team worked on finishing off improvements to the new walking track we’ve built to bypass an area that was being affected by flooding from the stream.

We drove up to the work site and went to work.  The first task was bringing the gear down.

In order to guide visitors away from the damaged area, we have constructed two barricades and the first task the team tackled was to install some cross beams.

They measured and cut the boards to size.

The boards were then nailed in place.

The team then went on to work on making a variety of improvements to the general area. There were spots where side boards had moved out of alignment or ground movement had impacted the track.  They studied each issue and came up with solutions.

Often it was necessary to completely remove old boards, dig out the area and replace the boards.

In other sections, new boards needed to be installed.

In other track sections, erosion and ground movement had made the surface uneven.  The team used rakes and spades to level the ground.

On one of the bridges on the track, the wire mesh that had been installed for good traction was coming loose.  The team cut away the loose sections and installed new mesh.

The improvements the team made to the track are great and will be appreciated by visitors this summer.

The team also undertook one last big challenge.  When the initial track was built by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award students, they had installed totem poles on each side of the bridge.  When the bridge collapsed due to flooding, one of the poles came down too.  The team dug a new hole and reinstalled the pole along the track.

The team made some major improvements in the track and we really appreciate their hard work and creative solutions.

The other team meanwhile worked in the wetlands.

They started out by doing some weeding along the boardwalk and clearing away overgrown vegetation.

It was a hot morning in the sun, but the team managed to clear the entire boardwalk and kept smiling.

The team also installed mesh over the boards on a bridge that had recently been installed.  The mesh will provide good traction.  The team cut the mesh to size and nailed it in place.

Once the boardwalk work was finished, the team moved up to the top of the property and worked on trimming vegetation growing over the roads.  One of the challenges the team faced was clearing muehlenbeckia australis that was growing over trees in some areas.  The meulenbeckia is a native vine that grows up along the edges of regenerating forests and unless it is controlled, it will completely cover and kill small trees.

The enthusiastic team wasn’t afraid to get into the bush to find the source of the vines.

The trimming team got to see a lot of the property and managed to clear several track sections. Thanks to their efforts the tracks they worked on are looking great.

Each of the teams accomplished an amazing amount of work and weren’t afraid to tackle the many challenges in spite of the heat.  THANK YOU everyone!

Both teams finished up in time for a late but relaxing lunch.

A big thank you to Josh for organising the day.

And a huge THANK YOU to everyone for coming out to volunteer for the day and for all your hard work and efforts.  We really enjoyed meeting you all and the interesting conversations. Your hard work and amazing contribution to CUE Haven is most appreciated. We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did and do look forward to having you out again for another fun and productive volunteer day next year.

And we also look forward to having you out with your friends and family for a leisurely visit soon to explore more of CUE Haven.

Thank You!! Thank You!!