Trimming Trelissick's (Old Man's) Beard ✂️

A fun working bee at Trelissick Park that lets you look after a cool Wellington reserve. In collab with Old Man's Beard Free Wellington and Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne.

"Tēnā koutou, 

First off, thanks so much for giving me a chance to gab at your meeting on Tuesday. I now officially have all the health and safety papers signed off, so we’re ready to go for our working bee. Here are the details:

When: Sunday 15 September, 12:00pm - 3:30pm 

Where: The site is located along Kaiwharawhara Road. We will meet here at 12:00pm. There’s some important health and safety details about parking which I’ll get to below. 

Tasks: This site is choked with weeds and in desperate need of releasing and some native infill planting. The weeds are mostly tradescantia (easy to remove), blackberry (harder to remove), and patches of old man’s beard (very hard to remove). Nigel Charman from Old Man's Beard Free Wellington will demonstrate how to identify and remove old man’s beard and will also provide us some natives to plant. I’ll bring us all gloves to use. If you’ve got any gardening tools though, please do bring them! There may also be some rubbish to pick up and I can bring us bags too. 

The site:

The site is a weird one. It’s divided in three by Trelissick Park Group, Wellington City Council road reserve, and private property owners. All three have given their approval and support for us doing this work, especially because they can’t do it themselves. The site is just too difficult for them to access. Additionally, the Kaiwharawhara Stream runs right through the middle. You can access both sides by walking around the footpath, but you can also cross the stream itself if you’re willing to get a bit wet. It’s just above gumboot height so, if you decide to cross it, wet feet and pants are guaranteed! I recommend bringing a change of shoes and clothes for after. 

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Health and Safety Hazards: This is important so eyes glued e hoa mā. This site is just one big hazard which is why it’s been neglected for so long. 

Parking — Kaiwharawhara Road is scary! Cars go hooning down the hill and on top of that there aren't enough safe parks. The first spot to try is entrance five of Trelissick Park located here, the second spot to try is the actual private car park which Seen Safety said we could use located here. They only have four parks available though, so get in quick. Most people park along Kaiwharawhara Road here but just note that here aren’t any crosswalks and again cars are hooning down this hill. Be smart. Be visible.

Water — I can’t believe I’m about to say this but the health and safety gods are making me, the stream has water in it! We can’t breathe water (last I checked), so be very careful. The rocks in the stream can be slippery, our little feet can be slippery, it can just be a slippery day, be careful. Also, it’s a bummer but there are a lot of ickies and yuckies in the stream. I would suggest avoiding it if you’ve got any cuts or scratches on you. Wash your dang hands regularly as well. I’ll bring us hand sanitiser.

Slips and scratches — The site is steep as on both sides of the stream and beneath the weeds are a lot of sneaky blackberry vines that you can trip on. This is all to say that the health and safety gods have mandated that sturdy shoes, pants covering your legs, and a shirt covering your arms are required.

Everything else too — but I can address the smaller things when we meet. 

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I really hope that you’re all able to come. If you could get in touch with me (nate.rigler@visitzealandia.com) or Justin (conservation@vuwtc.org.nz) to RSVP that would be mean. Thanks so much! See you Sunday 15 September."