Hauraki Gulf Islands Network Hui 2026

The first day of the HGIN hui got off to a leisurely start, Auckland luxuriating in the warmth of late May sun, and a splendid day for a ferry ride to Waiheke Island to meet up with other gulf island representatives for our third Hui at Waiheke Resources Trust. It was a smaller group this meet-up but great to catch up again with Audrey from Kawau, Kristin from WRT, and finally meet Zoe in real life.

Our first activity was in the company of the wonderful Huhana Davis. Her workshop ‘Sacred Spaces in Public Places’ took us on a mini tour of Waiheke, from the beachfront at Matiatia to the silver sand of Onetangi and special places in between. I found it extremely thought-provoking, and it reinforced how strongly I feel about preservation of ‘culture’ on our islands, and the necessity to figuratively maintain a pou in the sand with regard to how our communities respect each other, and our environment. Visiting the three carved pou behind the Waiheke Library also inspired the thought that we could literally create a pou.

The second visit of the day was out to the Island Waste Collective to catch up with Keith Enoka. Keith’s team are responsible for reducing the waste which is transported off Waiheke. They reduce, repurpose, and recycle in an enviable fashion. Keith is ever-inventive, and the premises have grown impressively since my first visit in 2024. There are lessons to be learned with regard to waste reduction on Rakino, and the intention is to enact those lessons this year, with a community composting trial set to get underway. We also ran into Denisa, for a timely chat about moth plant eradication.

This was followed up by a debrief back at the Waiheke Resources Trust before we headed out for dinner. I had to get back to Auckland in order to organise myself for the next day, a trip to Rakino! The ferry was running a tad late, but I entertained myself listening to the kororā coming ashore at Matiatia. I could see their eyes gleaming in the dark as they swam ashore before heading up the beach into the rocks, braying like mad donkeys.

Day two began very early, lugging my pack in the dark up to the bus stop to head into town for an early ferry trip, in order to be at Matiatia on time for the water taxi ride to Rakino Island. This is the first time the Hui has taken a trip off Waiheke to visit another island, and Rakino was chosen for the inaugural visit. We had a full boat of 15, so the pressure was on… Most of the team had never visited our island, and the group was made up of people from a number of nationalities, all involved in environmental restoration, and waste reduction, as well as Kylee Matthews, chair of Waiheke Local Board, and Nicola Strawbridge, waste reduction advisor from Auckland Council.

We were met at the wharf by Bert and Simon, armed with 6 scrounged caulking guns, ready for the first activity of the day, eDNA water sampling at Home Bay. Marta presided over this. It involved taking samples from two stream sites and forcing a litre of water through filters in order to collect DNA information on all the critters that reside in the stream. The caulking guns are a necessity as it gets progressively harder to force the water through the 5 micron filters as the ‘information’ builds up and collects. Water clarity is imperative as too much murkiness clogs the delicate filters. This is pretty exciting, and we can’t wait to find out what lives in this stream. The process is not inexpensive, and the data will be valuable. Many thanks to Laura for giving Bert last minute permission to conduct the testing at Home Bay.

While everyone else was getting their hands dirty, I was chatting with Nicola, Kristin, and Kylee about island issues; predominantly getting food out of household waste and cardboard out of the recycling with a view to supporting Lyndsey’s composting initiative, but also dealing with the interminable moth plant problem which gets worse every year. Some good ideas were tossed around, and some commitments were made.

We headed up to Bert’s for a slap up picnic lunch, organised by the fabulous Kathy from Kai Conscious at the Waiheke Sustainability Center. Kai Conscious divert tonnes of food from going to landfill every year and redistribute it, or convert it into delicious shared Friday lunches. Bert’s impressive planting endeavour was much admired.

Following lunch, we marched up the hill in order to meet up with John down at the nursery. I took an inadvertent shortcut on my backside while more circumspect visitors chose a dignified entrance. John took us through the nursery, talking us through his process for ramped up tree production in order to meet the needs of larger block owners who want to do a regeneration planting on their land.

In recent times John has refined his growing process in order to get maximum use out off the spacial limitations of the nursery. The nursery has all its water needs met thanks to a local board grant for water tanks, and volunteers Bert and Kevin assist with the watering, which is a time-consuming job. The trees are all looking healthy, and some will be heading out for community planting this King’s Birthday Weekend.

The advantage of buying trees grown on the island is that the seeds are eco-sourced as much as possible from the geographical area of the gulf islands, but most importantly they are guaranteed pest-free. The risk of plague skinks and argentine ants is always top of mind when bringing vegetation to Rakino, and all plants must be well soaked in advance of transportation.

Judi turned up with impeccable timing to offer a lift to any folk who really couldn’t face another uphill trek, and we all headed back down to the wharf to farewell our visitors. The sea looked a bit choppy, so I hope the trip back to Waiheke wasn’t too lumpy.
I hope everyone enjoyed the day visit, and it’s clear there is tangible value in forging stronger connections between our islands. It was also excellent to have representatives from council visit Rakino.
Many thanks to Zoe and WRT for organising the Hui and to Waiheke Local Board for supporting it. I’m already looking forward to next years meet-up.