Arthur Bowen carried out his first water monitoring run for 2016. Water quality is quite good at the moment due to the lack of regular rain. Algaes are present in the lower reaches but are not as developed as last year. The vegetation is overgrowing in the fenced off areas with the first flaxes and toe toes already shading the stream. White Bait are present in the stream but in smaller numbers. The next water monitoring run will be carried out in April.
From Te Mahia blog : http://room3temahiaschool.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/maara-kai.html
On Tuesday we headed on down to Ruawharo Marae to have our Master Chef Maara Kai competition. We were all very excited and couldn’t wait to get started on our planned menu. To start with we watched Nanny Sophie demonstrate how to make a bull kelp steam bag. Some of us were lucky enough to do this with Nanny Sophie at the end of last year. We sliced open the kelp and stuffed it with our onion, potato, kumara and carrot. We then watched a demonstration by Chef Shaun, on how to make a delicious warm caramelised onion dip! We all agreed it tasted amazing and Whaea Jenni has agreed to share it with us all on the Te Mahia School facebook page! After that we began the prep on our own menus of a salad and a nutritious drink. It was awesome to see the teamwork involved, and the discussions between team members. It was an amazing day full of fun and food. The winning team was Mokotahi!
And we have a very awesome team of amazing Chefs heading into town next Wednesday to compete against other Wairoa Schools. The team is Patricia D, Anthony, Violet and Azure.
Kia Kaha Te Mahia Chefs!
The restoration programme is well underway. Yesterday, Graham Douglas (Forest Manager for Grandy Lake Forest), John Syme (Leasee of Homestead farm) and Nic Caviale Delzescaux (Project Coordinator) went for a field visit along the Whangawehi stream. The last piles of willows are burning after a long await for a rural fire permit. The remaining logs will be buried early next week just before the fencing contractor starts erecting a 3 km fence. The lay out of the fence line was discussed at length ! between the three parties. The field trip gave the opportunity to finalise the plans for the extension of the farm water supply to provide water for stock. Weather permitting the work should start soon.
Thank you to Burgis contracting and HBRC for assisting the group with their expertise and knowledge around tree extraction.
The first ever Whangawehi mountain bike ride held in conjuction with Adventure Wairoa in Mahia last Saturday was deemed a real success with 67 people participating. Participants were a mixture of locals with others coming from Hawkes Bay and Gisborne to support the event.Mark Lewis who has biked numerous off road rides throughout New Zealand commented that “the ride was enjoyable, challenging in sections but accessible to all ages”.
The event was part of a series of summer community engagement activities organised by the Whangawehi Catchment Management Group to share their restoration story with the wider community. Activities included guided walks, displays at both the Mahia Market and Wairoa A & P show and the mountain bike ride to finish of their summer activities.
This free event was an opportunity to promote and invite all bikers to the groups community planting days planned for the 9th and 16th of July 2016.
Nic Caviale-Delzescaux, Project Coordinator for the WCMG said “when you live in remote areas, it is critical to be able to offer a wide range of activities to attract and engage with the wider community and sustain support over time. It was also great to involve local clubs and organisations this time round to leverage more support.”
Graham Douglas, Forest Manager for Grandy Lake Forest is extremely supportive of this event and said that “Grandy Lake Forest is proud to be able to demonstrate the additional benefits of having forestry within the Wairoa District and being able to share it with the public. It also helps lift the profile of the District with potentially some long term economic outcomes if the walk/cycleway goes ahead”.
The WCMG acknowledges the support received from all landowners, the Whangawehi community, volunteers, DOC, Adventure, GO BUS, QRS and the Wairoa District Council.
Hi all,
The MTB ride wasn’t a race but several bikers requested their arrival time. Please check out the following document : Mount Bike Ride arrivaltime.docx 2
Thank you for supporting this event. We welcome all bikers to our planting week ends on the 9th and 16th of July. See you there.
Fantastic – Well organised!! Thanks Stef
Awesome – friendly well organised – [name]
Great Ride and well organised [signature]
Bruce – awesome [signature]
Thank you very much for organising a great ride [signature]
Awesome Thanks !
Absolutely awesome !! Well done organising team – I would even pay to come & do this.
Dreydon Hughes – Absolutely awesome track!!
Awesome downhill section. Very scenic.
Great ride, would definitely do again.
How Amazing experience, wonderful
Good idea to mow forest road
Loved it – Sore butt J Tina
Amazing would do it again great organisation.
Beautiful Ride – a Bit rough in patches& water crossings
Awesome ride great downhills.
Fantastic event. Loved the ride Well organised and very friendly people J A++++
I felt very safe knowing there are checkpoints.
Lovely Ride, Really enjoyed it. Rod K.
Fantastic Event – Well Done
Fantastic!
GR8 race/ride. Need to put a bike rack on 4wd Backup vehicle if multiple issues. Carry Biker & People.
My First Trail Bike Ride after having walked it. Excellent.
FAN – TAS – TIC!!! Great ride for young and old. Shame more rides aren’t around like this. Thanks Heaps.
Good fun – clud push it more as a family event + or for riders who haven’t done much mountain biking.
Loved it – tick that off Bucket list !!!
Simon Firm – Great Ride
Mark # 109 THANKS FOR THE LORD? !
AWESOME – would love to do it again – AU OF IT.
Music to start when first people arrive. Approx 11.30am
Awesome event thanks & well done to organisers It would be great if there were mountain bikes payable local clubs ran support letting people use their clubs bikes, like Adventure Wairoa. people could use on the day at no cost to them to draw more people including tangata whenua. It would be good also to promote the event more to local Marae and people like those who run fitness programmes for Maori like Patu & Iron Maori local crews. Massive event, great to see planning & work of Whangawehi Catchment management group along the way.
Awesome Ride. Thanks for keeping an eye on us!
Excellent. Well organised & marked. great track.
        
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The Whangawehi Mountain bike ride, held in Mahia last Saturday, was a real success. 67 participants came from as far as Hawkes Bay and Gisborne to support this first initiative. Bikers from all age gave the ride a go from 9 year olds to mid 70s… well done to you all.
This event was part of a series of community engagement activities (including guided walks, displays at the A&P Show and the Mahia Market as well as evening presentations etc.) organised during the summer period in order to share the Whangawehi restoration story with the wider community and raise further support.
This free event was an opportunity to promote and invite all bikers to our community planting days planned for the 9th and 16th of July 2016.
The WCMG wants to acknowledge the support received from all landowners, the Whangawehi Community, volunteers, DOC, Wairoa Adventure Club, GO Bus, QRS and Wairoa District Council.
The event wasn’t a race but several participants asked for their arrival time ! We will provide this information later on during the week. Our local Triathlete Rod Kirwan completed the loop in 1h10 minutes…not sure he took the time to admire the scenery 🙂
Thank you all for supporting this event. We welcome your feedback, please get back to us.
If you want to receive regular updates on the groups activities, become a “follower” of our journey : click on “Follow ” (bottom right hand corner of this page).
From Room 3 blog :
Kia ora Room 3 whanau,
We are in week 6 and Miss D’Ath has come back Mrs Hitchy! I missed everyone while I was away and it is so nice to be back.
We have been up to a lot of exciting things this week, especially today.
Today we had our second Enviroschools day where we focused on finishing up our “School Song”. Tamariki have been putting forward a lot of awesome ideas about our school and what they think is special about it.
After we all wrote down some feedback and feedforward about what we already had written we split into three groups.
1 group headed with Miss Kereru to perfect the tune and beat for the song, another to Miss O’B where they perfected some awesome moves for the song, and the third group headed to Mrs Hitchy to express the song artistically. Keep your ears peeled for our new song coming soon!
Landowners and Whangawehi volunteers have been busy preparing the track today. Wairoa District Council and QRS allowed the group to benefit from a road side mower allowing the track to be mown and spruced up. Thank you for their support. The track is now ready to welcome bikers on Saturday the 12th of March. Registration will start from 9.30 am.
Event programme :
This event is open to teenagers (12 year old and over).
Ride Map and profile :
Ride summary:
-4 kilometres of gravel road along Kinikini Road with 150 meters uphill
-9 kilometres of forestry and farm tracks
-10 kilometres of sealed road back to the Mahia Fishing Club
See you there !
Whangawehi Catchment Management Group 