Sugar Loaf track accesses 45th Parallel

Donald Young, Denis McEntyre, Matt Sole o the track

Cromwell Rotary have developed a narrow walking track up the Sugar Loaf in 2009 to allow visitors to view the 45th Parallel and surrounding lake area from the crest of the Sugar Loaf terrace a significant land form and landscape.

This is managed currently as an out and back track from State Highway 6 Luggate – Cromwell Road beside Lake Dunstan 500m north east from Lowburn inlet and Valley up the lakeside face of the terrace via a series of steps to a viewing point aligned with the 45th parallel. This has received use from passing visitors and locals alike and with its success the club has extended the walking track down Hanging Gully on the true route via the early gold workings down to the Lowburn inlet and then around the foot of Sugar Loaf terrace to the track starting point beside Lake Dunstan and the SH.

This has created a rewarding loop track with outstanding views and opened up a previously hidden sequence of early gold workings for public access and appreciation. Most of the current track and new extension is located on Central Otago District Council (CODC) owned land. The Sugar Loaf area is an Area of Outstanding Landscape in the CODC District Plan requiring compliance with Rule 4.7.6L (1) (c) relating area/amount of earth/material disturbance.

The Hanging Gully is a recorded archaeological site on the NZ Archaeological site recording register G42 572 and the Cromwell Rotary Club along with consultation and gaining approvals from various other bodies such as LINZ, NZTA, adjacent neighbouring landowners  worked with Heritage New Zealand (HNZ) to gain the required consents to run the track extension through the archaeological gold workings site in Hanging Gully.

The Cromwell Rotary has developed and maintained the current track and has the support of both Cromwell and Pisa communities with their respective plans for walking tracks rating them as medium and high importance. A memorandum of understanding sets out the agreement between Cromwell Rotary and CODC

Vanuatu Fundraising Raffles

On behalf of the Vanuatu men living at 45 South Hostel, a huge thank you to Glacier Southern Lakes Helicopters for their generous prize; To Megan Ireland, who designed and printed the tickets – thank you; To Jean Morgan and all the wonderful Cromwell Rotary members who helped sell the tickets - thank you, without your support it would not have been possible; To all the businesses and public who supported us - thank you very much.

Many thanks also to Dave McMillan, Rippon Cherries, for donating a trailer load of firewood. 

We have a group of Vanuatu men in Cromwell who will be working over winter and are going to be sending a container back home so any donated goods are most welcome.

Wendy Sullivan [0274 351363]

Hostel Manager

45 South Management Ltd.

 

Raffle Prize: Helicopter Flight for 2

Raffle Winner: Sheryl Kernahan

Drawn under Police Supervision, 1 May 2015

 

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Firewood Raffle Winner:  Phil Foster

New community services van for Dunstan Hospital

Last year’s presidents of the four Rotary Clubs of Wanaka, Cromwell, Alexandra and Roxburgh, NZ, heard that the Central Otago Health Services Limited (COHSL) Dunstan Hospital and allied services needed to replace their community services van.

Rotary Project Coordinator Murray Kennedy tries out the lifting hoist watched by Rotarians Deans Hudson, Paul Checketts and John Rowley, with major user of the new van COHSL Therapy Assistant Sandra Booth Sandra Booth and Rotarian Jean Morgan

The van is used to transport equipment to patient's homes around the greater Central Otago and Wanaka region. The old van was past it’s use by date and no longer reliable or suitable to do the job. The van was doing about 350kms a week carting some very large and heavy items such as hospital beds and palliative mattresses, heavy wheel chairs, bed hoists, bath lifts, shower stools and a variety of other equipment for patients staying at home. A new van was going to cost between $35,000 and $45,000 by the time it was fitted out with a lifting hoist and other equipment. 
 

The then presidents - Murray Kennedy of Cromwell, Sue McGregor of Roxburgh, Paul Checketts from Alexandra, Richard Wallace from Wanaka - and their Assistant Governor Janice Hughes from Wanaka agreed in an instant that this was another very worthy cause to collaborate on. So they took the project to their individual clubs who all got behind them and started the fund raising process.
 

The clubs raised the money for the van from various fundraising activities, including book sales in Cromwell and Wanaka and a charity dinner in Alexandra. Rotary District 9980 also contributed some funding from The Rotary Foundation. 
 

The lifting hoist was funded and installed by The Friends of Dunstan Hospital group.
 

This is the second project in recent times where these four Rotary Clubs have joined forces to assist the hospital provide better services to our community. The last project was for the CT Scanner Suite.
 

The new van finally arrived last November and the hoist was fitted to make it a much better, more reliable and safer vehicle for the COHSL community services staff to use.
 

Project Coordinator Mr Kennedy said, “It’s not all Rotary. We are just the conduit. We raise the money from our community to help others deliver better services for our community. So it really is just our community helping itself albeit somewhat indirectly. But that’s just what is so great about living here in Central Otago and the Wanaka area – we have great community spirit and support.”
 

Allied Health Services Manager at Central Otago Health Services Limited Chris Brown said; “We are delighted with our new van and extremely grateful to all the Rotary clubs who put so much time and effort into raising the funds. We are indeed fortunate to be providing health services in an area where the community offers such extensive practical support.”

“Sweet as …”

- By Anders Lade, Rotary International Youth Exchange Student from Denmark 
 

Everything is sweet as when you are an exchange student.

Rotary is sweet as.

New Zealand is sweet as.

And life as an exchange student is sweet as.
 

Helping with the start of a new life

I clearly remember the first time I heard someone say sweet as. I was in school and I didn’t quite know what to say or how to react. Sweet as? But I learned what it meant and now I am using it myself.
 

Exchange is about culture and about learning and using what you learn. I learned about sweet as and now I am using it myself. I am turning into a real Kiwi.
 

As an exchange student you learn new things every day. I have been a Rotary Youth Exchange student for nine months. I am from Denmark and I now live in Cromwell, New Zealand. I love all the new things I am experiencing and all the new people I meet. It is amazing and it’s all thanks to Rotary.
 

When I first came to New Zealand, I knew about Rotary. I had been to several meetings in Denmark and I liked Rotary and the things that Rotary did. What I didn’t know was that Rotary is so much more than youth exchange and so much more than what you see on the surface. Rotary is about helping other people and service above yourself.
 

I have discovered and experienced a lot of impressive things about Rotary and learned about other ways to help people. Rotary is everywhere and Rotary is in every community and it is affecting every community. I come from a Rotary club in Denmark and they didn’t do much for the local community, but they did a lot for communities in other countries in Africa.

Adrenalin junkie!

 

Rotary in Cromwell is doing so much for the local community and it helps the community and it helps people. Rotary Club of Cromwell is helping kids by giving them dictionaries and safety vests. They are helping elderly people by giving them firewood. They also do things for the environment (eg. they had a big cleanup day were they collected all garbage). That is just some of the things they are doing.
 

It is fantastic that an organisation with 1.2 million members have the same goal, the same opinions, even though they are spread out across the world.
 

I have learned that Rotary is not a hobby or something you do once a week. Rotary is a lifestyle and life vision. Rotary is a big family.
 

Every time I am taking my Rotary jacket with all my pins on I get really proud. I am proud to represent Rotary and the things it stands for and does.
 

I have done a lot of New Zealand things and as an exchange student I am pretty busy. I have shorn sheep, helped birth a lamb, milked cows, gone skydiving, walked the Milford Track, done a North Island trip and so much more. Rotary is planning some more great things for me that are going to be fun so I am looking forward to it. Sweet as!

 

Postscript
 

- by Rotary Club of Cromwell President Jean Morgan 
 

 

The Rotary Club of Cromwell’s Rotary Youth Exchange Student Anders Lade from Denmark arrived at a chilly Queenstown Airport on July 24. Cromwell club has been fortunate to host some outstanding young people in recent years and Anders is no exception. It is true that the more effort a student puts into their exchange, the more they benefit. Anders has grasped every opportunity offered and the above article written in a foreign language by Anders describes some of his New Zealand experiences to date.

 

We certainly think Anders is sweet as ...

Cover picture and story for
NZ Pacific edition of Rotary Down Under magazine
March issue

 

Cromwell's 'Rotary Day' 2015 - 4WD adventure for all

The 21^st Cromwell Rotary 4 Wheel Drive event held on Sunday 4^th January enjoyed near perfect weather with a little cloud cover tempering the heat of the day. This was Cromwell Club’s ‘Rotary Day’ for 2014-15 bringing together Rotarians, other locals and summer visitors to the Central Otago area of New Zealand.

 

The trip, covering almost 100 km over challenging terrain was tackled by more than 70 people in 28 vehicles. The event started at the Golden Gate Hotel with an introduction by Club President Jean Morgan, a safety briefing from co-organiser Murray Dennison and the allocation of the now traditional box per vehicle of mouth-watering Webb’s peaches. The convoy then headed towards the Nevis Valley and on to seek out the source of Bannockburn’s water from the Carrick race.

 

The day’s trip was punctuated by a few vantage point pauses and a welcome picnic lunch break next to the Nevis River and then on to view the Cromwell basin from the shadow of the aerials at the top of Mount Difficulty. A steep hill descent was rewarded by a barbeque in Bannockburn to conclude this year’s Cromwell Rotary 4WD fundraising event. As always, Cromwell Rotary very much appreciates the considerable effort devoted by the team organising the event and the local landowners who permit access during the planning stage and on the day.

www.cromwell.rotarysouthpacific.org

One club a great example of what Rotary clubs all achieve

It’s July, the traditional month for the Cromwell Rotary Club’s ‘changeover’. This annual event includes the appointment of a new president and new directors, to carry the club forward into 2015.

 

Some 80 Rotarians and guests attended the function, held this year, at The Nose Restaurant. Tony Quinn, creator of the Highlands MotorSport Park, was the guest speaker. Apart from the ‘formal’ handover, two members; John Angus and Murray Kennedy, were presented with the prestigious Rotary ‘Paul Harris Fellowship’ award. This award is given to those who have shown outstanding service to their local and wider communities.

 

Over $44,000 was raised by the club in the last 12 months, benefitting many local and international good-causes. This included over $12000 donated to local youth and activities projects. Rotarians spent over 1700 volunteer-hours fundraising. Cromwell Rotary is again grateful for the massive support received from local businesses and the wider community.

Use the Blog Search function to read about the other activities of this small, but extremely active Rotary club.

By Derek Whelan

Web: www.cromwell.rotarysouthpacific.org