June 2016 Monster Garage Sale Saturday 11 June, 2016 starting 10am | Former Scenic Circle Hotel (opp. Garage), Fox Glacier Beds, single and doubles. Modular shelving units, mirrors, towel rails, drapes and tracks, toilet roll holders, sliding wooden doors and tracks, power sockets, stainless steel shower trays, toilet pans including seats and cisterns, hand basins, internal doors, bar fridges, tv's, custom ROSS wood panels, pre-hung doors, formica tops, eco heaters, wall hung writing desks/drawer Lynley Hargraves units, formica tops with basins, light shades/bulbs, light switches, hand basins. ph. 03 755 4227 Plenty of kindling for those winter fires |Cash only | All proceeds raised go towards the Fox HARI HARI Glacier Community Centre Nick or Karyn at SWAS Painting the Bruce Bay Hall [email protected] For the past 17 odd years members of the ph. 03 753 3160 Chatto Creek Motorcycle Club from Central Otago have been coming on a Memorial Ride WHATAROA over to Bruce Bay in August/September. Over Karla Maisey the years they have watched the struggle of the [email protected] small community in our effort to improve the old hall and its facilities. Last year they were so ph. 03 753 4028 impressed with the progress (and warmth!) that they offered to help by volunteering to paint the OKARITO exterior of the hall. Paula Sheridan “Harry Houdini”, the chief painter, spent a [email protected] week here in May, and along with John Birchfield painted the hall! A team of locals fed the painters ph. 03 753 4223 and Rina Thompson, prepared the hall for with food prepared and donated by the painting. This was no mean feat, considering the community and by all accounts, everyone was FRANZ JOSEF happy. state of the hall and the awful weather we were Helen Lash It was estimated that this effort saved the hall experiencing at the time! Then on Friday night a [email protected] band of helpers from Central arrived over and—lo board at least $10,000, if we had had to get and behold—Saturday morning provided the professionals in, so it is a massive contribution weather opening we were all wishing for and they from Chatto Creek. FOX GLACIER The Bruce Bay Community Hall Kate Draper Board would like to sincerely thank [email protected] the Chatto Creek Team and band of 0212478894 helpers for this wonderful effort. We can only shudder at the thought of SOUTH our community trying to do the painting Brenda Monk ourselves with our dwindling [email protected] numbers, other Home ph. 03 751 0892 commitments and Work ph. 03 751 0837 the average age of us all!!! HAAST Paul Gurney Community Contact is compiled from the contributions of the people of South Westland. Articles, items, [email protected] news, recipes, stories, etc. from everyone are most welcome. All personal opinions should be signed and publication is at the discretion of the Community Contact team. The views expressed in Community Contact are not necessarily the views of the CC board. Send your articles or adverts to your contact or e-mail to NEWSLETTER COMPILER [email protected] by 15 June to be included in the July issue. Lisa Reinhardt ADVERTISING RATES [email protected] ph. 03 751 0170 Full Page $150.00 1/2 Page $80.00 1/4 Page $40.00 1/8 Page $20.00 Address: Community Contact, Counter Delivery, Lake Paringa Post Centre, South Westland 7834 We prefer online banking payments directly into the Bank Account: 1 Community Contact 12 3166 0042300 02 with your name & what the deposit is for. Please do not send cash. DOC JUNE 2016 to study. Marine reserves may be established in areas What’s happening at DOC during May? that contain underwater scenery, The Community Team natural features, or It’s been a busy month, which saw us participating in marine life of such local sport events and games around Franz Josef, distinctive quality, or so typical, Whataroa and Fox Glacier. The Triathlon yielded the Best beautiful or unique that their Dressed Award, the Franz Games proved to be a blast, continued preservation is in the and the Whataroa Golf tourney saw some sharp shooting national interest. Perhaps the good doctor on the greens. It could also be said that the DOC team says it best: avoided all sand traps or water hazards the whole day! “The contrast between the ever restless sea – But seriously folks, we have increasing numbers of users the gigantic waves coming and going without of drones, RPAs, or Unmanned Aircraft, wanting to fly intermission – and the quiet watershed of over Public Conservation Land (PCL). Please note that Lake Ōkārit[o], with its numerous islands, surrounded by these craft are considered to be aircraft under Civil Aviation luxuriant forest, was most striking.” – Dr Julius Haast, 1865 Authority (CAA) regulations, and must comply with those Find out more at http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/ regulations (part 101 and 102). Key points to remember for marine operators: Fox Glacier office advertised a“Weedbusters” position last You must have permission from the land owner to fly month and expect to make an appointment soon, with the your craft, no matter how small. On PCL, you may likely start date being 1 July 2016. This person will be the need a permit or concession. Please ask at your local Department’s key contact for South Westland communities Visitor Centre or email [email protected] about weeds and pest plants, and will be able to assist with This helps us to manage effects on the wildlife, even if weed control in your garden, your farm and other areas near it’s for family snapshots. Public Conservation Land. No recreational drones are permitted in Franz Josef or Haast Biodiversity Team reports: Fox Glacier Valleys for safety reasons. May 2016 sees the first kohanga re-capture for the Haast You will need insurance. tokoeka bio team! Kohanga areas are secure, pest-free sites Observe the Privacy Act. where Operation Nest Egg juveniles have been released over If in doubt, seek advice: https://www.caa.govt.nz/ the past 10 years. Rarotoka Island in Foveaux Straight rpas/index.html currently has 20 adult Haast tokoeka and is first in the line. Any offspring discovered by the conservation dog teams will News from the Visitor Assets team: be brought back to the Haast Tokoeka Sanctuary later this The wet weather has kept us quite busy keeping access open month. It is exciting times as the birds have been left to their in both iconic glacier valleys. In the backcountry, new toilets own devices for so long the team in Haast is hoping for lots at Welcome Flat Hut are finished; windfalls have been of chicks! Keep posted for the results in next month’s issue. cleared from the routes up Mt Fox and Mt Adams. Our work in frontcountry sites in May also included work on the Lake Matheson track, and Alex Knob was cleared. Looking ahead, we will work on tracks at Gillespies’ Beach and at Hari Hari, and doing some repair and upgrade work to bridges in the Copland Valley. News from the Biodiversity Team Now that our five marine reserves are established on the West Coast, there has been a considerable amount of work preparing an operational plan that will describe how the reserves are to be managed during the next few years. In conjunction with this work, the West Coast’s “Marine Mammal Stranding Plan” has also been revised and updated; as has a strategy for Conservation Law Compliance. Why have Marine Reserves? The main aim of a marine reserve is to create an area free from the removal of marine 2 habitats and life, providing a useful comparison for scientists Whataroa JUNE 2016 3 Hari Hari JUNE 2016 4 Hari Hari JUNE 2016 5 6 Fox Glacier JUNE 2016 7 Franz Josef JUNE 2016 8 9 Haast JUNE 2016 Haast Happenings HAAST SCHOOL Haast Allstars What’s happening at Haast School? Hi everyone, well, looks like summer is just about behind us, We are well into Term 2 with our new Principal Michelle and the winter weather is rearing its head once again. Green and teacher Katrine Armstrong. It is cross country running season and after a successful practice at our school On the 20th April, we gathered at the Hard Antler for our th Fun Run we are off to Whataroa on the 8 of June to meal. There were fourteen of us which included our Prime - compete against four other West Coast Schools. Liz Komen, and Yoshi - the current student. Heleen was with us again, and is improving remarkably all the time. We are also excited to be receiving a visit from “The Saints”. The St Kilda Brass Band from Dunedin are bringing 10 players We all chose whatever we wanted, and the meals were to perform at the school at 2pm on the 23rd of June. Community members are welcome to join us and enjoy a cup of tea afterwards. Our gardens are experiencing a slow revival. Rachel Roxburgh is kindly working with the students every Thursday and we have begun with the raised vegetable beds and a bokhashi compost bucket. We all love getting our hands dirty and have plans for the seed raising trays, raspberry patch and the school landscaping. Any donations of cuttings or plants would be gratefully received! We have also been learning about all the different ways of keeping ourselves safe in health-fire, earthquake, stranger danger, cover basic first aid and dog safety.