Matiu/Somes Island - volunteer day trip

Kara — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 05:42:41 GMT

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

Trip Reports

Matiu/Somes Island - volunteer day trip