From the Blog:
World Wetland Day 2024
Celebrate World Wetland Day with us at Matuku Link! Saturday 3rd February 2024 10am - 3pm Celebrate World Wetland Day this year by visiting Auckland’s largest mainland wetland! Matuku Link is holding our annual open day and wetland celebration on the 3rd of February...
Santa’s elves
Santa isn't the only one who has helpers! We have many... last week we had our first volunteer sewing session to make beautiful, sustainable, cutlery bags from donated pieces of fabric, filled with recycled cutlery - a fork, spoon, knife and straw ready for your next...
Matuku moana
Many of our volunteers are not just "ours" - they volunteer at other projects as well - Mototapu, Oakley Creek, Orangihina, Ark in the Park - to name just a few! And some volunteer at Birdcare Aotearoa, which is the only place in Auckland where you can drop off an...
What a pARTy!
Our 2023 anniversary party turned into a three-day pARTy, thanks to Derek March's 'takeover' of our barn and education center as part of the Waitakere Open Studios. Professional artist and conservationist Derek March has been a volunteer with Waitakere Rivercare,...
Education highlights
This year, we have welcomed almost 1,000 students to Matuku Link for our school education days. We have had the privilege of educating and connecting with not only these students, but also the teachers and whanau members. Our education days are always exciting, with...
Henderson North visit
The deputy principal of our local Henderson North school brought a group of his teaching team out to Matuku Link. They were impressed with what we could offer and we were impressed by their enthousiasm. Together we wrote a funding application for WeSteam funding...
School Holiday Success
When we started the Matuku Link school holiday program, we didn't think it would be so successful so quickly: last week's series was fully booked almost every day, with most of the children wanting to return the next day... because what's not do love: making friends...
Search and rescue Sundays
It's weeding season again! We'd love you to join us at 111 Bethells Road to care for the trees we all planted earlier. We call this "Search & Rescue": search for the white tipped bamboo stick and rescue the plant by cutting away all the weeds that are threatening...
PR for pūweto
Ever seen a pūweto, a spotless crake? Possibly not... but you can, soon, albeit digitally. Matuku Link will be featuring in the next episode of Wild Heroes, the Auckland Zoo series on the work their staff do outside the zoo. Zoo staff have been helping Matuku Link...
Open Studio
The wetland restoration project Matuku Link was an out door studio for professional artist and Matuku Link volunteer Derek March for five months. From February to June 2023 he designed, then painted a mural on a 35 meter long fence separating the wetland education...
Donated jackets
Thanks to the networking skills of our volunteer Rebecca, young students who forgot their jackets will now stay dry during our Wetland Education Program. And with the weather we had, that is definitely a bonus! Rebecca approached her friend at Barfoot & Thompson...
Winter planting days
It's planting season again! We'd love you to join us at 111 Bethells Road to plant some new trees and care for the ones we've planted earlier. With the wettest summer and autumn on record, we do recommend gumboots - a bit of splashing around in the mud makes it even...
Seeds away!
Seeds away! One of our nursery volunteers loves to grow plants and was wondering how to regrow the native plants and trees on the many slips in the Waitakere River valley. Usually those barren sites get colonized by weeds before the native trees can take hold....
Education and inspiration
Of course our main aims at Matuku Link are protection of all our native flora and fauna, through best practice pest control (thank you trappers, baiters, weeders and sprayers!) and restoration of our wetland with our eco-sourced plants grown in our nursery (thank you...
The Tuesday Team
If you've got some time on Tuesday mornings, are interested in helping out and love good company and home baking, join our Tuesday Team! What started with a couple of people looking after the plants in our on-site nursery has evolved into several different activities...
Kayak Adventure
Every year the VIP Kayak Day is different, we've had super hot summer days when most guest went for a voluntary dip in the clear Waitakere river, a chilly day in October, postponed by covid from March, and this year a post-cyclone silted river adventure. Three out of...
Bug hunt with experts!
Evening Entomology Excursion - A Bug Hunt! Saturday 18 March, 7pm-10pm, $5 - booking required: www.matukulink.org.nz/shop/product/bughunt What bugs hide in our bush? Professional entomologists from Auckland Museum and Auckland University will help you identify as many...
2022 in pictures
2022 was the biggest year for us yet... with the Jobs4Nature funding we employed at one point seven people! Add that to all the work done by our volunteers and you can imagine a lot happened last year. The pictures below don't do it justice at all, however they are a...
Jobs4Nature
It was the silver lining to the covid cloud: receiving Jobs4Nature funding to be able to employ people to help us at Matuku Link. From November 2020 to December 2022 we have had Nic, Christine, Stephen, Stephanie, Gillian, Devon, Jeff, Denis and myself employed for...
Cancelled Wetland Festival
I’m writing this with the sound of large helicopters evacuating people from Muriwai, and in the knowledge half of our Te Henga community residents don’t have power, internet or water – hang in there, our thoughts are with you! Here at Matuku Link our little wetland...
Summer Search and Rescue
No swimming skills required for our Search and Rescue missions! And just gumboots for our planting days... We're are asking you to help us find our plants, identified by a white stick in a sea of weeds. And then use a shark (flax knife) to release them from being...
Contact us:
Secretary Annalily van den Broeke
022 692 2016 or email us at hello@matukulink.org.nzÂ
Physical address:
111 Bethells Road, Te Henga, Auckland
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