Just had an RSS feed from the Auckland Council that’s worth taking note of.  With the rainy season ahead of us – oh yippee! – there’ll be lots of extra stormwater running onto our beaches and out to sea. We love the beach lifestyle here on the Shore – the longest urban coastline in NZ – and we need to keep it clean and beautiful. Washing your car on the lawn (or at a designated carwash facility) keeps that filth and detergent out of our swimming beaches and streams. Take a look at the council article on how to preserve our coastline and waterways.

Child's view of Kennedy Park

Spent a few hours wandering around the much improved Kennedy Park with its fabulous climbing rope adventure playground, and brand new steps leading down to the Castor Bay back beach. Formerly known as Red Bluff,  the park has superb views across the Hauraki Gulf, and you can walk along to Rahopara Pa, where you can still see evidence of gardens and kumara pits dating back to the early 1800s. There’s a petanque court on a lower, sheltered part of the park, new members welcome!

The observation post has been upgraded and is regularly used by local clubs and for community events such as the “Memories of Castor Bay” display for Heritage Week. The history behind this area is vast and interesting (both European and Maori). The gun emplacement was disguised as a holiday home when it was built in 1942 – they didn’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention. The WWII battery tunnels have also had a makeover recently and are now open for public tours (1-4 pm on the second Sunday of each month, starting from 15 November 2010 – contact John Crews for details on 550 8391). Campbells Bay Primary students have created a website about the history of Kennedy Park and Rahopara Pa – click here to read all about it.

The beach below Kennedy Park

One of Auckland’s largest metropolitan parks, originally called The Takapuna Domain, Centennial Park in Campbells Bay incorporates a number of tracks, a tennis club and a golf course within a total area of 160 hectares. Weeds and exotic species are gradually being cleared from the area and more natives planted thanks to the great work being done by the Centennial Park Preservation Society. The bush is alive with birdsong and the area boasts some rare birds such as the long tailed cuckoo. You’ll see wood pigeons, white eyes and fantails and many more native and introduced birds. There are maps available from the city council, or you can view the main map at the Beach Road entrance to the park. View a map of the park on Google Maps. Read more about Centennial Park and its history here.

Want to have a home garden and need some quidance? Maybe you’d like to reduce your household waste. Learn to make compost, how to make a worm farm, reduce your household waste and help keep our environment clean and healthy. The Kaipatiki Project runs regular adult education courses, activities and workshops free or at minimal cost. They will also tailor-make courses on demand for groups and they provide environmental education courses for schools. They are based in Lauderdale Road, Beach Haven and you will need to book in for a class as they are very popular and in demand.

Last year, volunteers planted an impressive 15,000 native plants in North Shore parks and reserves – it’s a great thing to be involved in, fun for all the family, and a worthwhile contribution to your community. Forthcoming planting dates in 2010 are:

Sat 3 July – Kaipatiki Project, Glenfield – help plant trees in Eskdale Reserve, 9:30am-12pm. Meet at Eskdale Primary, opp. Speedy Cres, Glenfield Rd

Sat 3 July – Centennial Park Bush Society, Campbells Bay – Kowhai planting day – 10am-12pm. Meet at top of Kowhai Rd

Sun 4 July – Standish Reserve, Bayview – planting trees, BBQ to follow – 10am-12pm. Look for signposts end of Pemberton Ave

Sun 18 July – LeRoys Bush & Little Shoal Bay – planting day – 9:30am-11:30am. Meet at 60 Maritime Tce

Sun 25 July – Stredwick Reserve, Torbay – planting day – 10am-12pm. Look for signposts from the reserve entrance in Stredwick Drive

Sat 7 Aug – Kaipatiki Project, Eskdale Reserve – planting followed by BBQ – 9:30am-12pm. Meet opp Speedy Cres on Glenfield Rd

Sun 15 Aug – Chelsea Estate Heritage Park, Birkenhead – planting trees – 10am-12pm. Look for signposts end Rawene Rd

For more information and planting dates, go to the city council website. Wet weather cancellations broadcast on Newstalk ZB or contact Actionline (09) 486 8600

3 individuals from the Centennial Park Preservation Society have just won awards for their weedbusting work.

We’ve been having our deck overhauled during the past couple of weeks. Apparently, it’s not as solid as we thought and much of it needs replacing. John Kearney, a skilled craftsman, is doing the job very ably, but the trouble is, he disappears every now and then, with little warning. The reason for this apparent slackness?

He’s been called away by the North Shore City Council to do some maintenance work on the local waterways. Right now, he’s building ladders for the wee native fish to climb so they can navigate their way upstream to their habitual spawning areas. John has introduced this initiative and has shown himself to be a quiet hero in the precarious life of our freshwater fish. Another scheme he’s initiated is to install mussel nets on the concrete walls of culverts. This way, the fish have a place to rest on their journey upstream as well as a place to hide from predators.

We’re more than happy to push out the completion of our deck if it means  our urban streams can support a variety of native fish such as inanga, kokopu, bullies and eels.  To view more information on fish ladders and the care of freshwater fish in New Zealand, check out what’s happening in Wellington and at Three Streams on the North Shore.

If you’re interested in helping with the preservation of the waterways and streams on the North Shore, contact the Kaipatiki Project . They’re having Green Drinks at their bush reserve headquarters at 17 Lauderdale Road, Birkdale at 6pm on 8 December. Let them know if you want to come along and meet the team. Send an email to auckland@nzaee.org.nz.

Another example of John’s handiwork

Read about fish ladders being installed in other Auckland waterways here.

Image: National Environment Agency Annual Report 2006/2007

We’ve come a long way since the early days of recycling on the North Shore. Back in the 1960s and 70s, about the only thing we could officially recycle was aluminium milkbottle tops. These went in with the dinner dishes before being added to a slowly growing bagful which was eventually dropped off at the School for the Blind in Manurewa. They received a fee from Tiwai Point aluminium smelter for sending them on there.

North Shore City Council has a waste collection system consisting of a blue wheelie bin for all recyclable plastics, glass, aluminium and tin, prepaid rubbish bags for general waste, and an annual inorganic rubbish collection. It is preferable to rinse items for recycling before placing them in the wheelie bin. Recyclables are collected every two weeks, on the same day as your regular collection. Check out the 2009-10 recycling calendar. You can find out what day your rubbish will be collected by logging on to the North Shore City Council website or calling them on 486 8600. Sort it! is a game for your children to play online in which they can test their knowledge of recycling. Outside of this system, you can personally dispose of household waste by taking it to one of two local transfer stations (4 Home Place,Mairangi Bay 478 9888 and 4 Lake Road, Devonport 445 6914). Phone them for information on opening times and costs.

Recycling

Another avenue for disposing of unwanted goods is the Resource Centre at 100 Wairau Road, behind HireQuip. They take goods that are suitable resources for arts and crafts in schools, kindergartens and other community groups. There are also a few internet based organisations for donating useable items such as Freecycle.org or DonateNZ.com. They have great websites, too!

Bokashi

Composting your kitchen waste reduces the demand on landfill and the release of methane gas that such waste gives off. It produces valuable nutrition for your garden, so you won’t need to purchase fertilisers. If you don’t have the space or inclination for composting, alternative ways of dealing with kitchen waste are through a worm farm or a bokashi system. If you’re at all squeamish about creepy crawlies, I recommend bokashi, a Japanese system in which food scraps are fermented. Once the “compost” has been buried in the garden, it breaks down very quickly. The system also produces a concentrated liquid which can be used to fertilise your plants. Find out more on bokashi, including where to buy the bins and “zing”.

Composting

Making compost is a bit more involved and there are a number of schools of thought on how to produce the best recipe. Most agree that a variety of layers of material including green waste, a source of carbon such as dried leaves and woody bits, and some kind of animal manure will make a rich, well-balanced compost which is highly nutritious for your vegetable and flower gardens. When we had a big garden, we would make compost a couple of times a year, and we kept a worm farm.

Worm Farming

Having a worm farm is more fun than it sounds, especially if you have young children in the house. You can make your own “farm” from old tyres or other suitable containers that can be drained. See the instructions on the Zero Waste website. But there are a number of options on the market for ready made worm farms which can be purchased from Mitre 10, Kings Plant Barn, Palmers Browns Bay and The Warehouse. You will need to purchase a starter pack of tiger worms (try Worms r Us 292 7759) and you can begin feeding them, a little at a time, with your kitchen waste, cardboard and paper. In return, they will produce a dark, rich “soil” which can be added to your garden to produce robust and healthy plants. A worm “tea” is another bi-product which can be diluted and sprayed on your plants to inoculate them from a number of diseases and pests. Roses do particularly well when sprayed with this wonder product.

What We Do

As much as possible, we avoid purchasing products that are over-packaged. We like to shop at the Takapuna Market on Sunday mornings where fresh fruit and vegetables are largely unpackaged. Cloth shopping bags are versatile and easy to throw in the washing machine. Shopping at the market is also about supporting local and small producers and having the pick of the freshest produce. The atmosphere is lots of fun, too! It can be worthwhile to contact the suppliers of products you purchase if you feel their packaging is excessive or unnecessary. Public pressure can make a big difference to the behaviour of even international manufacturers, as the about-face by Cadbury on the use of palm oil has shown.