Native bush offers peace amid the bustle

By WAYNE THOMPSON

In 1970, North Shore residents won their battle to save a pocket of native bush in the middle of the "bulldozer belt" from being cut into housing sites.

Thirty-three years later, the stand of native bush is still there, a haven from the rush and noise of city life. And Hugh Willis is still helping to look after it.

In 1970, the area between Glenvar Rd, Awaruku and Reynolds Place, Torbay, would have produced 36 housing blocks, each worth $8000.

But it was the last stand of bush in the Bays, and three petitions with 800 signatures were presented to the East Coast Bays Borough Council asking it to save the area.

The council bought the land - and its bush - from the subdivider.

A preservation society was formed to take over responsibility for the Awaruku Reserve, which included treasures such as a 650-year-old kahikatea tree and mature puriri and taraire.

The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society planted hundreds of trees in the scrub.

Pupils from Westlake Boys' High School also gave their Saturday mornings to help.

They hauled two big hardwood beams through the bush to bridge a stream, helped drain an old quarry swamp in the heart of the bush, and cut track steps.

One of their supervisors was maths teacher and Torbay resident Hugh Willis.

As the line of volunteer helpers thinned out, he carried on with voluntary work in forming and improving the half-kilometre of track through the reserve from Awaruku Rd to Moorgreen Heights.

When he retired from teaching nine years ago, he asked the North Shore City Council if he could extend his track-making skills to other bush reserves in the area.

With the council providing the building materials, and Mr Willis the sweat and know-how, the public now has about 5km of pathways to bush at Emlyn, Fitzwilliam, Stredwick and Torbay Heights Reserves, as well as Awaruku.

"It certainly does keep you fit doing two to three hours work a few days a week," said Mr Willis.

Forming tracks with an easy grade through steep sections was hard work, but it was worth it to see people using them.

Recently he took six people in wheelchairs and an 89-year-old man along the track to his beloved big kahikatea tree at Awaruku.

"My regret is that more people don't know what excellent specimens are available in these reserves."

The Awaruku is the most-used of the Torbay reserves. Its lofty trees and tall ferns and palms form a shade canopy that Mr Willis said makes the reserve "beautiful and cool on the hottest day."

As the city has grown, the reserve also offers suburbanites another rare attraction: "You can't hear the traffic once you're in the bush."

Awaruku enthusiasts recommend people try a time-honoured stress-soothing experiment. Go to the old kahikatea tree. Sit down and be absolutely still for three minutes.

Awaruku Reserve

* Location: Torbay, North Shore.

* Features: 650-year-old kahikatea tree, mature puriri and taraire.

* History: Saved by residents' petition in 1970.