By Jane Hughes, Partnerships Ranger in Hamilton
For Lake Areare’s last planting day of the year, the support was so strong we weren’t sure if we had enough plants!
Lake Areare
It started taking on a life of its own when, instead of the two car loads expected, two bus loads of Fonterra staff showed up for a planting day.
Chelsea from Fonterra enjoying the day
It was a whirl of spades, flying dirt and smiling faces for a couple of hours, and then it was time for lunch.
But there was no time for DOC staff to waste—we were still brushing off the crumbs from lunch when several carloads of school children turned up from nearby Taupiri and Ngaruawahia Schools.
They were full of enthusiasm and fond memories—one little boy went running off as soon as he could to see how tall the trees he planted last time had grown!
Lunchtime
The Auckland Fonterra crowd enjoyed the morning shift so much that they stayed for the afternoon session as well!
All the DOC staff agreed it was really good to interact with the Fonterra staff, who had come from the Auckland, Hamilton and Te Rapa offices.
School children helping out
Everything had falling into place. The bigger the crowd, the quicker the plants got into the ground, especially with this Fonterra crowd – they were really focused.
The children worked hard and planted all their allotted plants before heading off, muddy, tired, happy and proud of their work.
Some of the volunteers at Lake Areare
The planting day ended with lots of smiling faces as we all surveyed our work, the stacks of empty pots and the planted area.
Everyone really enjoyed the day and were looking forward to the next one.
