Rotary International President Gary Huang Visits Motutapu Island Rotary project

In the Hauraki Gulf, less than an hour's ferry ride from Auckland, NZ is the island of Motutapu, and a successful environmental project supported for 24 years by the Rotary Club of Newmarket working with the Motutapu Restoration Trust, the Department of Conservation, and the people of the land Ngai Tai.

The project was the recipient of the Rotary District 9920 Environmental Award at the 2014 Conference and it was selected by then District Governors Phil Ashton of District 9910 and Willard Martin of District 9920 for a visit by then Rotary International President Elect Gary Huang and his wife Corinna on May 21. Accompanied by Rotarians, the international guests travelled in style on the super yacht Pacific Mermaid supplied through the generosity of former Governor and Skipper Ken Winter and Bente. 

 

Motutapu Island was formed in Jurassic times, has an area of 1500 hectares, is farmed in partnership with the Department of Conservation, and has a popular camping ground. It also has many archaeological sites from pre-European occupation and formed part of the defences of Auckland during WWII. 
 

Thanks to this Rotary project partnership with the Motutapu Restoration Trust, Motutapu island and adjoining Rangitoto Island are pest free, the Home Bay wharf was repaired, and a nursery of local native plants was established near the education centre. The Rotary Centennial Walkway project was officially opened in 2005, 90 hectares of plantings are completed out of 500 hectares eventually planned, the homestead was restored as a visitor centre, and the Red Barn rebuilt for the volunteers. Over 60 native bird species have returned, including releases of Kiwi and Takahe. 
 

Gary and Corinna toured the Rotary project and learnt of current work underway to complete a loop track, and in particular construction of the Home Bay Stream Bridge and the Monument Lookout.

Additional funding is being sought from fellow clubs, particularly in District 9910 and District 9920, to assist with completing this important environmental project for future generations. Contact Trustee of the Motutapu Restoration Trust Iain MacKenzie, of the Rotary Club of Newmarket, via 027 495 5226 or ismackenzie@xtra.co.nz.

www.motutapu.org.nz

Introducing our new members to the seemingly crazy nature of the club slowly

On the St Johns Rotary Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/stjohnsrotaryclub )  President Mary Ann said “We like to introduce our new members to the seemingly crazy nature of the club slowly so as to not scare them off. One way we do this is to invite them all to a New Members Night.”

 

These are always incredibly relaxing and pleasant evenings and being a pot luck dinner some unexpected cooking skills from the male members came to light.  What is significant is the club is innovative in finding better ways of achieving results and this is one example. 

The whole purpose of the evening is for new members to get to know each other better and they all have the fact they are fairly new to the club in common.  Unlike how such evenings are handled in many other clubs where such evenings often have a formal Rotary information presentation, this evening has none.  This is because new members get excellent information in a highly structure (but seemingly informal) way as they join, and the friendly nature of the club and the quality of the meetings means new members learn a lot about Rotary as they take part in these and in the frequent and varied projects.

Of course, it is inevitable that some conversation around Rotary opportunities arises with the new members becoming much more comfortable that they can just get involved within or outside the club as they choose, and some quite surprised at the extent of what they can just go and become involved in within Rotary and depart the evening intending to find out more through the website about a particular aspect of Rotary that interests them.  The club has long promoted Rotary as offering members the limitless ability to contribute to the community in a way that suits their preferences and interests while respecting your lifestyle and commitments.  Understanding this is extremely attractive to prospective members and the club backs this by sending new members to Rotary Leadership Institute as soon as they are able.

 More information: www.stjohns.rotarysouthpacific.org

Newmarket and St Johns Rotary Clubs take on Motutapu Bridge Project

Newmarket and St Johns Rotary Clubs have been working together recently to further the Motutapu Bridge Project.

In partnership with Motutapu Restoration Trust, DOC, local Iwi and Auckland Tourism there is the potential to create the equivalent of another Tiritiri Matangi on Rangitoto – Motutapu Islands.

To achieve this and to complete the Motutapu Loop Track, the Motutapu Stream Bridge needs to be built. The bridge is a key element to opening up public access to the tracks on the Island.

Consent to build the bridge has been received from Auckland City Council.  $10,000 has been committed by Newmarket and St Johns Rotary Clubs. We believe this important environmental project represents a great opportunity for Districts 9920 and 9910 to invest in their local community.

The following is an extract from the St Johns Rotary club bulletin of April 2014:

This week we were graced with the presence of the Honorable Christine Fletcher. Christine gave us some insight on the Motutapu Restoration project with which she has worked since its inception. Having worked Rotary since the start of the project, Christine was all compliments on the consistent contributions provided to the project by the Newmarket Rotary Club and numerous other Rotary clubs.

Since its creation, Motutapu has accounted for over 500,000 trees being propagated and planted on the island. Although some initial discouragement occurred with some stakeholders suggesting Aucklanders look to further locations for their recreation, this has been pursued as the closest sanctuary to Auckland.

Motutapu is an Island within eyesight of Auckland and therefore an ideal location for both conservation and recreation. They are currently pursuing regular Ferry transport to the island, an attribute that would certainly lend itself to increased numbers of visitors and therefore funding. 

The conservation potential of Motutapu is beyond any other location near Auckland. The island serves as a habitat for Takahe of which there are only a few hundred in existence as well as the Coromandel Kiwi. These rare birds are not cheap to introduce to the island with the kiwi costing about $35,000 each. These are but two of the 61 birds that contribute to the island’s impressive bird chorus.

Motutapu functions as a farm with all proceeds going to the Department of Conservations’ central funding pool for all its efforts nationwide. For this reason, alternative funding specific to Motutapu must be pursued. One source of funding is a mountain biking event with raised between 40 and 50 thousand dollars thanks in part to the efforts of over 500 volunteers (Rotarians included).

 

The history of Motutapu is as interesting as its diverse current uses. As Auckland’s largest farm it also served as a defense asset with its numerous tunnels. These tunnels could possibly provide additional tourist attraction if the funding to make them suitable is made available.

The uses and benefits of Motutapu Island are numerous and include both conservation and recreation. Christine made a note regarding the lack of government funding and the complete reliance on private funding to provide these valuable resources. As the walkway project goes forward we must consider why we are left to fund these efforts privately given their public benefits. Additional efforts will continue to be made in an attempt to acquire a regular ferry service.

Let us thank the Honorable Christine Fletcher for her work with the Motutapu Restoration Project as well as her insight into the future success of the project. We look forward to continuing to contribute to this project and to take advantage of the numerous conservation and recreation benefits that it provides.

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To read an earlier article about the Motutapu Restoration Project go to: http://rotarystories-nzandpacific.blogspot.com/2013/03/rotary-saved-largest-pohutukawa-forest.html

Quadruple treat of bite sized opportunities

The Rotary Club of St Johns gourmet market was a quadruple treat of bite sized opportunities! 

The Salmon Man Ron Aratema

Wine, salmon, coffee and chocolate all went together well at the successful evening.  It was a particular attraction that the products on offer were of high quality from innovative businesses the Fine Wine Delivery Company, The Salmon Man and Jack’s Coffee.  The evening also included fascinating presentations describing the start-up of these relatively new businesses, their journeys to date, and how striving for excellence in their products and service have contributed to their success. 

This but one example of the innovation clubs are introducing to make their club meetings more enjoyable for members and partners and also as a way of interacting with the community.  This particular meeting had some members from other clubs but also several people interested in finding more about Rotary and how Rotary might fit their desire to be active in their local area.  Although St Johns Rotary is a breakfast club, their first meeting of each month is a dinner event and has proved extremely popular with member's partners.

St Johns Rotary Changeover ... going viral?

Certainly a club going places ... changes being implemented:

• First meeting of the month is now an evening meeting for members, family and friends with a keynote speaker
• Local community focus
• Leadership from younger members - a few more younger members and the targeted average age of 45 will be realised
• Service through Fellowship
• Family focus

www.stjohns.rotarysouthpacific.org

Getting to know you - a project to draw the community together

WOW, what a fantastic day. The theme was "Getting to Know You" - pulling the school, the community, business's and Rotary together and this was a stunning success ... just what you would expect from St Johns Rotary members of course!

Full article at:

http://stjohnsrotary.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/bringing-new-school-and-new-community.html