By Kara, 12 June 2012
There was a total of eight volunteers
to Matiu/Somes Island on Sunday, our day started at 10am, catching the Dominion
East/West Ferry.
Next we had to go through a process
similar to quarantine – checking for all living creatures such as mice/insects
and for plant material such as seeds, bark and dirt, as the regeneration
project of the island has been very carefully formulated.
There are two full-time staff on the
island who presented historical information, entailing a Moari and European
timeline. This was very
interesting (and a little frightening – being told how ships with ill on board
were treated for disease through gassing with arsenic etc.).
Through out the day us volunteers
created tree markers from recycled fences and orange ribbon, helping the
‘Secondary Planting’ project to go ahead.
Later, Alex and I got to attack this
huge tree with saws and loppers – definitely the highlight of my day!!
During a day of volunteering the DoC
workers are very friendly and organize work around what you want to do on the
island, such as having lunch walking around, checking out the views, taking
pictures and reading about the light house etc.
The weather was beautiful and it made
the day, the walk around the island takes about 45 minutes at a slow pace. Overall, the trip was really good and I
would recommend it to anyone livin or visisting the Wellington region. It’s also a great way to help out DoC
in their mission and have fun too!!
More information on Matiu/Somes can
be found at
http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/wellington-kapiti/wellington/matiu-somes-island/
Kara