Under the energetic leadership of Tony LeSueur, supported by several keen stalwarts, trapping at Project Rameka went from strength to strength in 2025.

Tony has been steadily replacing old traps with new double traps, which he is building himself. These are essentially two traps in one long box. The first kill acts as irresistible bait, and so these traps catch more than any single trap ever could.

Rameka is now catching more rats and stoats than any other trapping group in Golden Bay. Over 365 days, there were 389 catches at Rameka, 212 catches at the nearby Paines Ford, and 69 catches at Motupipi Hill. This would not have been possible without Tony’s new double traps.

Every time the traps are cleared, trappers email in a report of what has been caught, and the report often includes mention of the birdlife they have seen, which includes, tomtits, robins, bellbirds and weka.

The double traps have been paid for partly from the sale of carbon credits but mostly from generous donations, in particular from Martin Dowse who funded $5,000 of materials for new traps. Tony then volunteers his time to build the traps.

The main pest we are catching is rats. Here is what the numbers look like from October 2024 to September 2025.

In 2025, a total of 338 rats were caught, and 15 stoats/weasels.

At the time of writing, Tony was busy building another 10 double traps. These traps will be deployed on out eastern boundary in the near future.

Looking further ahead, another 11 traps are reaching the end of their life, and if we can raise enough funds, they will be replaced with brand new double traps in 2026. Each double traps costs $180–$200.

If you would like to support this trapping, you could donate to Project Rameka, at: https://rameka.carbonforest.nz/support-us/

One way to dodge a storm is to get up really early before it hits, ride a tandem on old highways, even if it is only for 20 minutes and pedal your hearts out to beat it over the ranges between Picton and Nelson.
Yep, Jonathan and Bronnie were on their way to Rameka from Wellington, trying to dodge an epic storm that took out power in Rai Valley and Havelock. There was actually only one really scary bit heading up to Rai Saddle when the wind funnelled down a side gully and threatened to push the tandem down a bluff. Thank goodness for roadside barriers is all this scribe can say!

The next battle took place a day later against the barberry at Rameka. A new technique on this plot is to see what happens if we cut 70% of the stems and leave them in situ. We’re hoping the shade levels will change slowly in the native seedlings favour.

A final act before heading back to Nelson, saw Murray install one of his handmade weta hotels – photos will follow when guests have booked in.

It was a busy ole week at Rameka at the start of September, with a bunch of keen Wellingtonians joined by some equally sharp Nelsonites and a sprinkle of Canterbrians putting in the good yards.

A lot was done to restore nature and then enjoy some time with it before re-entering the ‘real world’ (sigh).

Thanks to Andrew, Alison, Bronnie, Charlie, Corrine, Fiona, Grant, Jonathan, Karen, Marie, Murray, Nicole, Paul, Richard, Ricky, Tony, Vicky and whoever we missed.

Rameka is looking better than ever. The trees are thriving, and the tracks are going to be great once they have dried out from winter.

Easter is often a great time to go to Rameka: the weather is generally good that time of year and it’s a perfect opportunity to get away from the “madden crowd”. In Easter 2025, a group went across, and we focused on giving some love to Great Expectations and fixing several out-of-grade features. This is a grade 3 track, but some switchbacks were too tight and a couple of bridges needed work (one needed replacement).

Many thanks to Bronnie Wall, Richard Mansfield, Nicole Benkert, Grant Fraser, Tony LeSuer, Bob Clapp, Chris Burr, Ricky and Corina Ward. You all did great work!

Also thanks to Greg Burghardt for inspecting all the structures and drawing up plans for the bridges.

While most people escape Wellington for Christmas, we generally try to take our festive break early, and in 2024, we did just that: heading for Rameka two weeks before Christmas.

We can report that the Mangatapu Track is in pretty good shape, but seems to be about 100m higher than normal.

Once we got to Rameka, we focused mostly on tracks – assessing them, installing grading signs and cutting back overhanging vegetation.

Had a good ride back out over the Rameka Track – always has been and always will be a classic!