Hauraki Gulf Islands Network Hui #2 2025

In early May, Montana and Marta from Waiheke Resources Trust visited Rakino to catch up with last years inaugural hui participants, and any other interested Rakino-ites.
The main focus of the visit was to have a look at a couple of the wetland areas Bert has been water testing in, take a look at the invertebrates found in these areas, but also talk about any other initiatives we might be keen to instigate.

A lively discussion was held on Bert’s deck; most especially around the possibility of introducing a community composting system with a view to starting a community garden. Bert had initiated this part of the conversation, and unbeknownst to me this is a passion of Lyndsey’s, so I was very happy that Simon had made a last minute post on the community FB page, as Lyndsey turned up like a whirlwind of enthusiasm for the potential of this project.

We then headed down to investigate Bert’s wetland, followed by a visit to Hanna and Craig’s pond. I can report there are vast quantities of water boatmen in the pond, and no shortages of mosquito larvae on Rakino.

The Hui was held on Waiheke again this year, at the Waiheke Sustainability Center where WRT are based. Participants from Aotea, Kawau, Waiheke, and Rakino attended. This year Simon, Lyndsey, and I self-selected to attend.

There were four main workshops, firstly a tuition in using GIS tools to track pest animal and weed control, as well as volunteer hours. This is a useful tool for recording as it can be quickly utilised for data reports, but also demonstrating to council their funding is being well spent. I cannot tell a lie; the feature that received the most admiration was an excellent widget that demonstrated before and after visuals of planting and wetland restorations, with the sideways movement of a cursor. I’m going to twist Simon’s arm into adding this feature somewhere on this website even if it kills him. Thank you to James Siddle for the presentation.

This was followed by a workshop on engaging with Mana Whenua, presented by Kim Collins from Waiheke Marine Project.
Regretfully the intended Mountains to Sea run snorkeling trip around Rakino and Otata organised for Rakino and mana whenua rangatahi had to be postponed then cancelled this year due to inclement weather, but will be planned again for early next year, hopefully during the summer school holidays. It will be a great snorkeling day out for anyone aged 10 to 25, with a little bit of citizen science thrown in also.
This is a good low key starting point for Rakino..

The last workshop of the day was the one Lyndsey was hanging out for, Waste Auditing and Surveying, with Denisa Kolouchova from WCRRP. https://islandwastecollective.co.nz/waiheke-community-resource-recovery-park/
This was a really valuable workshop and evolved into a discussion about how we can deal with the problem of food and cardboard waste on Rakino. I’ve been interested in this problem for a while, as you can see here;
https://www.rakino.org.nz/2024/03/04/the-rubbish-report/ but it really needs a passionate permanent resident to drive any project like this, and happily Lyndsey and Bert are those people. I’ll be a great cheerleader though!
This will take some of the load off Tom and Pat, and benefit the whole community. More to come…….

It was an early start for us on day two as we were traveling from Auckland. Montana cooked us a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs courtesy of Kai Conscious Cafe, and then we powered into the Septic Tank System Workshop, with Marta, and Craig Brown from CBC Wastewater.
Septic tanks cause trepidation, no denying it. I suspect the majority of septic tank owners know very little about how they work, and how to maintain them so as to avoid great expense. I knew next to nothing about them despite having lived with one for seven years a few decades ago. I now have a pretty decent understanding about the inner workings of the scariest things on the island. I’ve looked into the maw and found it mainly harmless, and not that stinky.
Craig was a great speaker with a compelling style of presentation. If you want the levels of scum/water/sludge measured in your septic tank, I now know how to do it, and what the ratio should be. That doesn’t mean I’m going to though…
I think he’d be a great guy to get over to Rakino for a septic tank workshop some time in the future.

We finished up with a session at the Waiheke Library, with a plan to move ahead with our various island projects, and a commitment to meet again next year, maybe on Kawau or Aotea. An inspiring couple of days, great to meet up again with the representatives from other islands, and make some new contacts and friends.

Many thanks to Waiheke Resources Trust for their great organisation, the Kai Conscious Cafe for their delicious food, the presenters who gave their time and energy, and the participants for showing commitment to a really cool initiative. See you all again next year!