On Saturday 11th April, consultants from the Altis Auckland office: Devin Deen, Tracy Bellamy, Thomas Golawski, Paul Baird, Sunita Joshua, James Mitchell, Scott Pedersen along with some representatives of the Sydney office namely Khai Tan and Charlie Smithers, and also Yann Souilliart all the way from Thailand gave of their precious spare time to do some manual work at Kaipatiki reserve in Auckland. Kaipatiki Project is a community based organisation providing environmental education and nature restoration services.
After a quick introduction by James (our guide) to the organisation and their activities and facilities we were led over to the area for our attention. We were tasked with clearing the river bank and recently planted reserve of weeds. We were instructed in what to pull up and what not to; though there were sometimes a few mistakes and the good native plant was pulled up by mistake but we did manage to fill about 8 large black plastic bags with Tradescantia weed and pulled up mountains of Kikuya grass weed. We also lifted quite a lot of rubbish lying around.
The coffee break was much appreciated but we did return with enthusiasm that only waned approaching midday with the promise of a BBQ. We did get several visitors including Devin’s new dog Hazel (a 4 month old Newfoundland puppy). We also had the pleasure of James Mitchell’s daughter Ellie, Devin’s three children: Scarlett, Sage and Jasper, and wife Kate, Scott Pederson’s wife Anne and two daughters Brooke and Hailey. The BBQ, manned by Kaipatiki project manager Hamish was just what hungry and muscle sore volunteers needed.
Our efforts were also captured on film by a local university film crew, who had been asked to film the corporate assistance to kaipatiki Project and get our input in which I was asked several questions on camera about what it means to volunteer. We are looking forwrad to the resulting video being placed on the Kaipatiki project website.
It was a really enjoyable day with all saying it was worthwhile and looking forward to doing it again.
Story by Paul Baird
