Showing the Manukau Harbour we care (by Frances Hancock)

Looking back, it was an impressive haul and a sorry sight. On 28 February 2015 around 20 community volunteers from different organisations joined ranks to pick up rubbish along the rocky foreshore under the new Mangere Bridge, near the muddy Waka Ama launch site off Mahunga Drive, and under the flaxes shouldering the motorway off ramp.

After two hours of scaling rock, tramping through mud, and bush whacking their way through the flax to clear rubbish caught in its leaves the volunteers had picked up two boat loads of rubbish, amounting to 5,800 litres, and showed the Harbour “we care”.

The event was organised by Manukau Harbour Restoration Society (MHRS) in conjunction with Seaweek, an annual week-long event that creates a myriad of learning and volunteer opportunities across the country to raise awareness about the health and wellbeing of Aotearoa New Zealand harbours, foreshore, bird and sea life.  

MHRS was joined by a crowd of Waka Ama enthusiasts who came with a great attitude and members of the Mangere Bridge Residents and Ratepayers, The Onehunga Enhancement Society (known locally as TOES), and our own Friends of the Farm. 

This year Sea Cleaners also came to the party with its boat. At the helm was the fearless, energetic and visionary Captain Hayden on a quest to work with community volunteers to clean up the harbour.  For over a decade Sea Cleaners have been trawling the Waitemata for rubbish and with the support of Watercare was able to invest its resources in supporting local efforts to clean up the Manukau.

“It was terrific to work alongside people from different organisations who feel the same way about our Harbour,” said Bronwen Turner, deputy chair of Manukau Harbour Restoration Society. “And it’s very rewarding to see the change a group of volunteers can make when we work together.”

The two hour stint was long enough to make a noticeable impact and create new friends, without being overly taxing. All involved are keen to work together again to care for “our harbour”.

“We spend so much time on the water,” a Waka Ama enthusiast said, “it’s important for us to give back and show we care.”  

I (Frances) love our community working bees and always come away feeling a huge sense of pride and satifiscation for what we can achieve together. I have driven alongside the rubbish-laden flax by the motorway off-ramp leading to Mahunga Drive for a long time and felt upset by what greeted visitors and residents taking this first exit off the motorway and into South Auckland. I went to the working bee with a sense of mission – to clean up this eye sore and show our visitors and residents that “we care” about our patch.  I collected three huge bags of rubbish from that 100 metre stretch alone.  A huge thanks to my “pick-up partner” Karen for the great work she did alongside me. We talked as we worked and afterwards I visited her home and met her husband and daughter who also participated in the clean-up. It was a great way to spend a few hours on a gorgeous Saturday morning with them and others. I now feel inspired to organise a community working bee in May – so watch this space.