Our 2010 Summer Volunteer Programme has been AWESOME, with a great group of volunteers achieving a large number of projects and enjoying some super fun recreation trips.

First-hand perspectives – nowadays it seems everyone is traveling with a laptop.. and many volunteers are keeping a blog and/or uploading photo collections. So we’ve created a created a collective website linking to their stories:

http://earthwisevalley.blogspot.com/

In this news item, we’ve included links to their photographs & blogs (below)

Work has been done in the Valley and at our New Volunteers House.
Projects have included:

• building an earth-oven – great for pizzas and baking cob bread – story by Bexie
• building composting toilets
• rescuing and replanting trees
• creating a wood-fired non electrical spa-pool
• making large new gardens
• planting flax, mainly alongside the river in the erosion zone
• bashing weeds – esp. wooly nightshade and wild ginger

Our two biggest trips this year were – seakayaking at Lake Waikaremoana ( See Dave’s PHOTOS ) & hiking + climbing Mt Ngaruhoe & Mt Ruapehu on the Volcanic Plateau. ( See Nicole’s PHOTOS).

Other trips have included:

• whitewater-rafting
• seakayaking – including a trip to visit nesting gannets
• surfing instruction
• horse-riding
• and lots of forest walks
  

And we’ve put several videos up on YouTube!

IMPORTANTLY, a major hurdle has been successfully overcome – TCDC have granted resource consent to subdivide and create the new valley property – a process that has taken 2 years – read more…

We’re looking forward to Winter 2010!

Tuateawa has been DRY. It hasn’t rained in any decent volume since the flood of November 2009. Consequently the ground is still rock-hard and so we’re now looking forward to the Winter programme to plant a lot of trees. We already have over 200 Tarata (Lemonwood) being looked after by Thames supporters Kevin and Annie, and expect to buy more acacias and some fruittrees too. Hopefully we’ll also get another few hundred flax planted… and in time these will attract and feed birds, which will disperse more plant seeds.

Two volunteers from this Summer, Dave and Nicole are returning this Winter to organise further projects. Bring yer gumboots folks!