December 2023 News

Happy Christmas to all our readers

Christmas Dinner

December 14, at our usual meeting place in the HB Cricket Club Pavilion
Start: 6.30pm
Food: Surnames starting with A to L – Salads
Surnames starting with M to Z – Dessert

The ham and potatoes are provided by Yvonne and Kelvin Shaw.

Bring your own plate, cutlery, drinks, glasses

Wear: Something Christmassy

Our 50th Anniversary

We have created a website page where all the information will be placed on events being planned for this celebration. It can be found under ‘History’.

Highway Walk

Construction of the Te Ahu a Turanga – Manawatū Tararua Highway began in January 2021 and is now in its second earthworks season.

There’s a chance to get a sneak preview of the new highway linking the Manawatu with Hawke’s Bay. We may make this Woodville Lions Club fund-raiser in late January a club event.

If you think that you might like to walk the highway, register your interest on the Tramp booking system. That will give the committee an idea of expected numbers.

• The tramping programme for the first six months of 2024 has been finalised. Head over to the Trip List to see what’s planned.

Wilding pine update

Graham Leech reports:

Thanks to the magnificent seven yesterday (10 November) – Andy, Sam, Campbell, John, Mark, Giles and me.

The magnificent six, and the photographer makes seven

Another 1008 pines are gone, 182 of them in Blowhard Bush on behalf of Forest & Bird. It was great to walk around the Tui Track – we found quite a few as the bush recedes towards the ridge – a number of smaller ones but some bigger ones that we poisoned too.

At The Lakes, we used the recent flyover from DoC to locate a few bigger ones that had so far escaped us.  We got those by the new public access road and the 4WD track between the two lakes.  And where the big ones are, we find smaller seedlings appearing.  Next trip we’ll have a go at the douglas firs that have infiltrated up by the public car park.

Afoot held a Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Programme for Gold students during the school holidays up at Kuripapango. Part of their programme was a morning spent clearing wilding pines – so another 200 gone.

They also spent a day with Forest & Bird in Blowhard Bush, planting trees and clearing broom.  We spotted a few wilding pines on the way round, so we are planning to help there for the afternoon on our next volunteer day.  Those of you who haven’t been to Blowhard Bush will enjoy the huge trees we’ll see on our way around there – flocks of whitehead too.