RANGITOTO STATION RESERVE
Work Weekend - 2 September 2005
 

We headed down to Otorohanga early, to meet Rosemary Gatland and hopefully hear the good news… “that Laurence managed to get the bait from Customs”.     It was good news, hence when we arrived at Rangitoto Station we busied ourselves unpacking rat bait out of buckets and wrappers, into 2 baits/per plastic bag.   We then headed out with Rosemary on the inaugural run of the new trailer her father had built.    Very impressive too!   We slit up to cover different bait runs in a new Kokako area Rosemary had spent time marking.  The new tracks were well marked and challenging.  After meeting the members of the Pukekohe & Howick Tramping Club’s we retired to the Woolshed, which was to be our humble abode for the weekend.
 

Filling a Bait Station

Next day dawned, a slight frost but another beautifully sunny day. 4TC & Phil (the local helpful DOC ranger) headed off to complete the bait runs started… whilst the 5 members of the Pukekohe Tramping Club + Rosemary headed off carrying the 48 kgs of rat bait to the Goat Hunters Hut.  We returned Saturday night to a scrumptious evening meal provided by Claire of the Howick Tramping Club, followed by an enjoyable evening watching the All Blacks vs. Wallabies game.   AB won!!

It was also good to see Laurence has made good use of the unwelcome Australian pests (the opossum) - mixing it’s fur with NZ merino wool to make a fantastic wool product.  He showed us all the new colour range available - Great!  

Noel, Carl, Claire & Rosemary

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