A last minute booking was made with Conservation Volunteers who offered a special deal:
The team consisted of 8 volunteers. Team leader Dawn Gasparro, Lydia Doerig (Switzerland), Virginie Dubois (Belgium), Sophie Laroque (Germany), Robyn Dempsey (UK), Joe Adey (UK). I thought I noted a look of disappointment on their faces when they arrived at our little cottage and later discovered their previous accommodation had been a luxury lodge in the South Island with individual rooms!
The remainder of the morning and early afternoon was spent working at the bottom of Sir Duncan McMullin’s property – mainly pulling out privet. Many thanks to Rupert Harrison for all his help. What a back breaking job. Sadly Chris and I had to return to Auckland. We have given the volunteers a list of jobs including digging out ginger behind the brown cottage, and planting the wetland area. We look forward to seeing what they achieve.
|
