Events

Join Nga Ringa o Te Auaunga, Friends of Oakley Creek, and help us clear the weeds which are overwhelming native plants in the Waterview Heritage Area. Learn a bit more about what makes this place special whilst we work to preserve it.

Meet at the stakepark at Waterview Reserve on Waterbank Crescent. Please wear stout footwear and clothes that fully cover arms and legs, and we’ll provide tools, gloves and know how.

contact Sandra 021 166 7647

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

The Waitakere Range Alliance are putting on their own Pestival this Sunday 6 November. We’re honoured to have been invited to give a guest presentation, to share stuff we’ve learned about supporting and co-ordinating the efforts of community conservation groups. There’s a great lineup of speakers and workshops, so come along if you’re in the area.

The venue opens at 9.30am for registration and coffee, and the programme starts promptly at 10am.

Group: Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao

Regular, monthly working bee. Check out our Facebook page for details

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

Oakley Creek Walkway - ‘Cabbage Tree Swamp’ - downstream from the waterfall, by the fallen oak and new boardwalk. Access is either via Unitec (student carpark), Great North Road (Waterview - down the steps between the student accommodation), or along the walkway, from either north or south. Follow the signs / flags from the bridge below the waterfall.

Some of you will have joined us back in May to plant 600 native plants in this lovely area.

This month we will be doing some plant releasing and weeding around the young plants, to give them a helping hand.

For more information contact Wendy - 027 232 6454.

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

Join Nga Ringa o Te Auaunga, Friends of Oakley Creek, and help us clear the weeds which are overwhelming native plants in the Waterview Heritage Area. Learn a bit more about what makes this place special whilst we work to preserve it.

Meet at the stakepark at Waterview Reserve on Waterbank Crescent. Please wear stout footwear and clothes that fully cover arms and legs, and we’ll provide tools, gloves and know how.

contact Sandra 021 166 7647

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

with SARAH MURRAY

$250 for 5 workshops. Book here.

Our very popular 5 week series of two-hour workshops covers some of the equipment found in our wood workshop. It’s suitable for novices or anyone wishing to upskill, particularly in power-tools and machinery. If you are new to woodworking, attending this workshop is a requirement of our Membership.

Each session will offer the chance to use different tools and machinery in a supportive, friendly setting (4–6 trainees) while doing good for the community building items for our partner, Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao.

All workshop PPE (eye, ear, respiratory protection) will be available but you are welcome to bring your own.

Dates for this series (Saturdays, noon–2pm)

Week 1 (Thurs 10 Nov) Sexy saws… and planing: includes timber basics, marking measuring, hand-saws, planing, and cutting with a hand saw.

Week 2 (Thurs 17 Nov) Feel the power includes safety and power-tools such as skill/circular saws, drop saws and bench saws.

Week 3 (Thurs 24 Nov) Screw it includes drills, bits and drilling and presses plus nails, screws and screwing.

Week 4 (Thurs 1 Dec) Grind it baby working with metal including cutting and grinding.

Week 5 (Thurs 8 Dec) Joint time includes assembling work, jigs, quality control, joints, tool kits (if time).

Sarah Murray is a highly qualified builder, furniture maker, educator and mentor with over 30 years experience working in these industries. She is passionate about supporting women to be confident with power tools, to do jobs around their homes, make things from wood, or enter the building industry, if that desire is there.

with SARAH MURRAY

$250 for 5 workshops. Book here.

Following on from our very popular Introduction to the Wood Workshop series, we like to think of this as our ‘level 2’ workshop. We’ve designed it to provide you with the opportunity to practice woodwork/DIY skills as well as learn new ones, all whilst making something practical.

It’s suitable for women wishing to upskill and those who want to continue their new journey into the world of woodwork after completing our ‘Intro’ series.

It is a unique opportunity to be both creative whilst learning and embedding existing skills, in a supportive and friendly women-only environment at our unrivalled extensive Auckland workshop.

Tools and machinery available to use include the skilsaw, dropsaw, benchsaw, router, chisels, planer/thicknesser, jigsaws, drill press, electric and hand planes, sanders, etc

All workshop PPE (eye, ear, respiratory protection) will be available but you are welcome to bring your own.

Dates for this series (Saturdays, 2.30–4.30pm)

Week 1 (Sat 12 Nov) Designing and planning… so you don’t have to rush off and buy more wood

Week 2 (Sat 19 Nov) Preparing your timber... so it actually fits

Week 3 (Sat 26 Nov) Making the shelf parts… properly

Week 4 (Sat 3 Dec) Prepare to assemble… making it look pro

Week 5 (Sat 10 Dec) The ‘I made that’ moment

Sarah Murray is a highly qualified builder, furniture maker, educator and mentor with over 30 years experience working in these industries. She is passionate about supporting women to be confident with power tools, to do jobs around their homes, make things from wood, or enter the building industry, if that desire is there.

Friends of Oakley Creek Te Auaunga are collaborating with EMR - Experiencing Marine Reserves who are running activities that include kayaking out onto the Motu Manawa Marine Reserve, and up into the tidal reach of Te Auaunga. This will be an opportunity for you to see the creek in a different light, and to learn more about the history of the Waterview Heritage Area, and the ecology and restoration work that we are doing in that part of the awa.

Meet at Eric Armishaw Park, end of Walker Road, Pt Chevalier.

For more information and to register go to - https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/motu-manawa-kayak-day-registration-442199890777?discount=KAYAKLOCALS

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

Join Nga Ringa o Te Auaunga, Friends of Oakley Creek, and help us clear the weeds which are overwhelming native plants in the Waterview Heritage Area. Learn a bit more about what makes this place special whilst we work to preserve it.

Meet at the stakepark at Waterview Reserve on Waterbank Crescent. Please wear stout footwear and clothes that fully cover arms and legs, and we’ll provide tools, gloves and know how.

contact Sandra 021 166 7647

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

Rob Jones is holding a working bee for Balmoral Heights Reserve, cnr Mt Eden and Balmoral roads. Please park on Bank St and bring pruning gear for vines and small privet.

Sunday 20 November, 10am to 11.30am

For any further information please contact Rob on 021 1513 703

Group: Forest & Bird Balmoral Heights

Join Nga Ringa o Te Auaunga, Friends of Oakley Creek, and help us clear the weeds which are overwhelming native plants in the Waterview Heritage Area. Learn a bit more about what makes this place special whilst we work to preserve it.

Meet at the stakepark at Waterview Reserve on Waterbank Crescent. Please wear stout footwear and clothes that fully cover arms and legs, and we’ll provide tools, gloves and know how.

contact Sandra 021 166 7647

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

Urban Ark and Healthy Waters are reviving the Waititiko community meetings which used to happen pre Covid. They were a great way of connecting people active along the awa: groups, contractors, schools, marae, council staff, contractors and others involved with improving native biodiversity.

This is the first of the meetings, now covering the whole catchment.

Location: Auckland Zoo. Go to the main entrance and there will be signs or flags from there.

Purpose

1. To connect groups working along the length of Waitītiko / Meola Creek. Although various introductions have been made, it still feels like better integration could make groups more effective.

2. To come up with broad plans for action along each section of the creek.

3. To consider if there is enough of a unified strategy and plan to approach Foundation North or similar to fund further work.

Proposed outline

1. Introductions (25min). Just 2 min per group: name, who you represent, main work so far, aspirations for the next year and beyond

2. Intro to Waitītiko (5min). STEPS (or Urban Ark) to do a quick overview of the stream and its importance.

3. Headwaters (10min). Discussion around issues and activities upstream from Roy Clements Treeway. Probably led by STEPS. Possible support from Pest Free Sandringham.

4. Roy Clements Treeway (15min). Discussion around issues and activities from Roy Clements Treeway and the underground section to the pipe outfall at Norgrove.

5. Norgrove, Chamberlain and around (15min). Issues around the golf course.

6. CRC to WSC (15min) Issues along the section immediately downstream of the motorway (BlueGreens) down to Western Springs College

7. Te Mahurehure to the sea (15min). Kanuka St Lava Forest, MOTAT land, Te Tokaroa.

8. Funding further work. (15min) Discussion around seeking funding for unified plan.

Groups: Pest Free Pt Chevalier, STEPS, Pest Free Gladstone, Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao, Conservation Volunteeers NZ, Pest Free Sandringham

Due to heavy rain, this event has been posponed. We are looking for a suitable time to run the event.

This freshwater quality testing refresher course is also appropriate for complete newbies. Healthy Waters (who are running the event) will run through the basics then concentrate on how to identify macroinvertebrates.

To hopefully find a wider range of inverts to ID we’re moving location to the wetland in Roy Clements Treeway. If you’re driving, you can park in Morning Star Place and walk through to the wetland.

When: Monday 28 November 10am–11.30am

Access: check out a map here. You can walk / cycle along Roy Clements Treeway from Fergusson Reserve or from Alberton Ave. Probably the handiest parking is at the end of Lyon Ave (see photo) from where you can walk through a passage, turn left and be at the meeting point in 5min. You can also walk through from the St Lukes Megacentre, beside Noel Leeming.

Parking on Lyon Ave

Groups: Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao, STEPS

Join Nga Ringa o Te Auaunga, Friends of Oakley Creek, and help us clear the weeds which are overwhelming native plants in the Waterview Heritage Area. Learn a bit more about what makes this place special whilst we work to preserve it.

Meet at the stakepark at Waterview Reserve on Waterbank Crescent. Please wear stout footwear and clothes that fully cover arms and legs, and we’ll provide tools, gloves and know how.

contact Sandra 021 166 7647

Group: Ngā Ringa o Te Auaunga Friends of Oakley Creek

Michelle Brindson from Eastern Bays Songbird Project has kindly agreed to give a short talk on the successes her trapping group has achieved to date and the role of bird monitoring within their overall project aims. She’ll follow this with a demonstration of how to conduct a 5 minute bird count in the Gribblehirst bush (adjacent to the meeting venue). We’d love to get as many people conducting bird counts in the Urban Ark area as possible, so feel free to bring/send along any keen members of your group who would like to start learning this skill.

The meeting is mainly for group leaders. Please [Enable JavaScript to view protected content] if you’re coming and let us know if you’d like to invite anyone else from your group.

We’ll also be running our peanut butter refillery: bring a container and we’ll fill it up with bait free of charge.

Group: Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao