Rameka

In the first week of November 2015, Jonathan, Bronnie and Simon Johnson headed down to Rameka with this year’s American interns from the HECUA New Zealand programme – Olivia Thorp and Hardt Bergmann. The agenda was to:

release the trees planted in August
take part in the DOC Conservation Week trapping workshop
tidy up a couple of unrideable corners on The Odyssey
clean up Great Expectations.

And time was built in to show our US visitors the highlights of the Bay.

Bronnie, Olivia, Simon and Hardt celebrate creating a new sitting platform at the entrance to Rameka

This was the first time Olivia and Hardt had been to New Zealand and probably the first time they’d spent any time taking care of a forest restoration project. We asked them to share their thoughts:

Hardt and I spent seven tiring but adventurous days in Rameka Carbon Forest with Jonathan Kennett, Bronwen Wall, and Simon Johnson. On Saturday, we packed ourselves along with a week’s worth of supplies, tools, and traps into Jonathan’s tiny Ford Mondeo and made our way up to the Lorax Lair at the top of the hill.

A weka sprints past the fire place at the Lorax Lair — Weka rule at the Lorax Lair

We quickly grew to love this place and its quirky features, especially the wood-fired bathtub on the edge of the hill. Built by locals who often visit the lair, it was a great way to unwind after a hard day’s work!

Our first full day out we participated in a trapping workshop run by DOC, along with many other locals from the Golden Bay area to discuss pest control, particularly of possums, rats, and stoats.

Trapping workshop at Rameka November 2015 — Volunteers from Golden Bay gathered at the Totara Car Park for a trapping workshop

After the workshop, about 15 volunteers headed up to clear 150m of the severely overgrown original historic Rameka Track. This track was built in the 1890s as an access route between Takaka and Tasman Bay. Once the main road was built, the pack track was pretty much abandoned, sections fell into disrepair and over time disappeared beneath plant growth. We aimed to change that!

Jonathan sets a trap on the 'new' Historic Pack Track. — Jonathan sets a trap on the ‘new’ Historic Pack Track.

We spent the next several days setting up traps for possums in hopes of helping the native flora and fauna to flourish.

When we weren’t setting up traps, we were weeding around the native trees Bronnie, Jonathan, Simon, and others had planted the year before or working on the Odyssey and Great Expectations tracks, the two mountain bike tracks that run through Rameka. This work involved clearing overgrown trees and tidying up a particularly rough switchback to make it more rideable.

Hardt Bergmann stands on a switchback before starting work to make it more rideable, The Odyssey, November 2015

Hardt at the same corner after working on it. — And the finished product – satisfaction plus!

It was a week full of spectacular views, heaps of learning and hard but rewarding work.

20150825_133617 (Large) — Contributors express how they really feel about being part of Rameka during an excursion to Farewell Spit.

By August, the necessary funding had been secured and negotiations were well down the track for purchasing the land to add to the Rameka carbon forest. Yeeha! It was time to show everyone what their contributions were going towards.

Jonathan hired a bus and accommodation at a backpackers in Takaka township for a week of exploration and celebration – and the contributors responded in kind. From Christchurch, Mapua, Wellington and Masterton, for one night to seven days, the size of the group ebbed and flowed as work commitments allowed.

We started by meeting in Mapua to help the locals plant a roadside reserve, then after fish and chips at the wharf (in brilliant sunshine of course! What else could you expect from a visit to Mapua?), we continued over the hill for our first sighting of the new-look Rameka.

The next day, Sunday, was totally committed to the land. We planted and explored both the new block and the existing Rameka.

The start of the working week meant that many of the troops had to say goodbye and return to their working lives, but they were replaced by others! Over the rest of the week, we planted more trees – concentrating on rata from Project Crimson this time, worked with neighbours to put in a new waterpipe and cleared some of the historic Rameka pack track on the new block of land.

20150827_140040 (Large) — Sonja Mitchel and Paul Bruce attack the blackberry and Himalayan honeysuckle with aplomb.It wasn’t easy work, but somehow, Sonja and Paul managed to make it look like a ball!

20150827_143248_001 (Large) — One of the easier sections; a zigzag remnant of the original Rameka pack track, originally built in the late 1800s.

And there was even time for exploring the further reaches of the Bay.

Author: Bronwen

November at Rameka

An August Pilgrimage to Rameka