This week, a team of volunteers are working with Department of Conservation staff to spruce up Holly Hut in Egmont National Park in time for Christmas. Today marks International Volunteer Day.
"It's just like an extreme makeover," remarked Conservation Officer, Mike Johns, as he surveyed the scene at Holly Hut recently.
The team of seven volunteers and five DOC staff had walked into Holly Hut and immediately got to work cleaning the ceiling, waterblasting the outside, trimming vegetation and building new steps for the toilets.
The volunteers all signed up for this 'holiday with a difference' and are an eclectic mix of personalities, skills and experience.
Jenny Kerrisk, secretary of the Mt Egmont Alpine Club, took up the opportunity in order to take a break from the pre-Christmas madness.
"I'm sick of walking tracks on the mountain and seeing them fall to bits, so this is a chance for me to give something back and give DOC a hand with things that they can't keep up with," said Jenny.
Ian Gregory from New Plymouth took to his task of fashioning some steps like a duck to water, and not surprisingly, he has had over 60 years in the carpentry business. He has helped out with numerous DOC projects in the past such as the Maketawa Hut and the Moki Track. Bruce Mann, also from New Plymouth, is currently on sabbatical from an international engineering profession.
He has elected to create time away from a busy job in order to do the things that he has always been intending to do.
Doing some volunteer work is one of those things, as is doing a tour of the Himalayas on a motorbike!
Last night, Jarad Coombs from Opunake, played kiwi calls into the night air in an attempt to survey kiwi. Jarad is in the process of completing his BSc at Victoria University.
The call for volunteers went out far and wide and was answered by Anja Scholz and Tony Gates from Palmerston North, and Christian Thiemann, a traveller from Germany. Christian is in New Zealand for four months, and in that time is doing several volunteer stints.
"It's a good way to meet other people and an opportunity to give back to DOC as I am planning to do a lot of tramping in New Zealand," said Christian.
"We are also seeking interest from people who are familiar with Mt Taranaki and keen to share their knowledge with visitors, either as volunteer guides at North Egmont Visitor Centre or as volunteer hut wardens," said Community Relations Programme Manager, Rosemary Miller.
"We will be running a training day for visitor centre guides on Saturday December 16 and we are taking bookings for the various huts in Egmont National Park. People who are interested should contact the North Egmont Visitor Centre on 06 756 0990," said Rosemary.
"Holly Hut, after its extreme makeover, will be a great place to be a volunteer hut warden over the summer. Wardens can book in their preferred week or weekend," she said. Mike has a long list of tasks for this merry team of volunteers, but at the rate they are going, they'll have them completed well before Friday when they are due to walk out from the hut. He has another hut working bee planned for the Lake Dive Hut in February, and anyone wanting to sign up for that week can find out more by phoning DOC in Stratford, 06 765 5144.
Volunteers give Holly Hut an extreme makeover
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