We’ve come a long way from our humble “Open Day” beginnings with just a couple of stalls… to this year’s fully fledged Wetland Festival last Sunday 1st of February at Matuku Link to celebrate World Wetlands Day.
After a beautiful opening by our friends from Te Kawerau ā Maki and we welcomed their latest team member Hayley and their whanau to Matuku Link, the sunny skies and the smell of coffee and sausages put a smile on the face of each one of our six hundred visitors, volunteers and stall holders.
After a beautiful opening by our friends from Te Kawerau ā Maki and we welcomed their latest team member Hayley and their whanau to Matuku Link, the sunny skies and the smell of coffee and sausages put a smile on the face of each one of our six hundred visitors, volunteers and stall holders.
Our success is your success
This day is only possible thanks to an incredible amount of hard work on the day from our amazing volunteers who did the baking, managing the shop, selling cakes, looking after the games, parking cars, giving walks, welcoming visitors, sizzling the sausages, showing the eels, taking pictures, entertaining the children… and did everything else that needed doing!
A couple of people need a special mention: Rebecca who organised the event, Grac who withstood the heat in the matuku-hurepo costume they made earlier, Janet who made such an incredible amount of baking & sandwiches and Dale & Grechen sizzling over 250 sausages! We couldn’t have done this without everyone helping out – Aileen, Alexis, Anko, Catherine, Christine, Dale, Emily, Gretchen, Grac, Holly, John Sumich, John Staniland, Josh, Lee, Lisa, Linda, Leanne, Marjolijn, Mark, Rebecca, Shaz, Stefan, Ted, Wayne and Queenie – plus all the people who worked behind the scenes to make this day a success.
It wouldn’t have been the same without our stall holders who engaged with our visitors with activities, information and conversation.
Thank you to:
- the Bethells Fire Brigade,
- Christine Rose Ceramics,
- Muriwai Environment Trust (those penguins!),
- Pest Free Waitakere Ranges Alliance,
- Ark in the Park (that stuffed cat!),
- PredatorFreeSwanson/Waitekere,
- Friends of Whatipu (weekend outing coming up!),
- Frazer the Biodiversity Guy,
- Birds New Zealand,
- Te Henga Tuturiwhatu & Penguin Protectors,
- Department of Conservation (clean your boat!),
- Kauri Rescue (got any kauri for a health check?),
- Auckland Council Tiakina Kauri,
- Auckland Zoo
- Entomological Society (so many beautiful tiny creatures),
- Mountains to Sea (getting wet feet),
- EcoMatters (flower arranging with weeds!)
- Brandy Davis, who screen printed her beautiful design on our t-shirts all day long!
It all felt like a big birthday party for wetlands! Matuku Link is supported by many organisations, unfortunately not for this this specific day. Therefore a last minute donation from The Trusts Supporters Club Fund towards the food to keep our volunteers going during the day was much appreciated.
We hope you enjoyed our party as much as we did, and see you next year!
Annalily & the trustees
All images by our voluntary professional photographers Stefan Marks and Ted Scott – thank you!
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