Not a lot could be achieved at Orokonui Ecosanctuary without the input of volunteer labour, as was recognised recently at the TrustPower Community Awards, when the ecosanctuary took the prize in the heritage and conservation category. So what is involved in volunteering? Alyth Grant reports.
It's late April, weather mixed, but at least there's no fog today.
The iron on the shed is still wet from the night's rain.
It is too early to start painting.
Another trip to the quarry first to get rock for another culvert modification?
Or more track work?
Those are the choices for the men this morning.
Meanwhile Naomi gets busy making up the sugar water and nut mixture for the birds, and Maree's team is arriving to join Sue tidying up in the pa harakeke.
The flaxes are thriving, but it's time for the old foliage to be trimmed.
The mood is light-hearted, with plenty of banter.
The social side of volunteering, lubricated by tea and home baking mid-morning, is enjoyed by all.
Joining the volunteer brigade means meeting a whole new range of people who come from a great variety of professional backgrounds: doctor, ship's captain, IT support, farmer, lab technicians, foodstuffs, to name just a few.
As Fred says: ''You can't just stop working when you retire''.
But the status and skills of the past are now largely irrelevant.
The project at hand is the common concern, and may well require the acquisition of brand-new skills.
No-one here has ever been asked to build kiwi roosting boxes before.
Working out design and assembly method is half the fun of it.
Some projects do require skill and a huge physical effort.
As, for example, the building of a fence around 15ha of land to create the new kiwi creche, Orokonui's latest project in partnership with the Department of Conservation.
There the skills of farmer Jeff were gladly drawn on. New skills lead to real job satisfaction, but heavy labouring is another matter.
And sometimes there is no escape. The fence itself was soon finished, but then came ''the awful job of putting the gravel down'' along its base.
That involved manhandling barrow-loads of gravel, ''but luckily only one day a week. It's not too bad. You come back and find that during the other six days they have made a lot of progress.''
Richard's words highlight the key difference about volunteering: you work as much as you choose, enough to structure your time in newly won retirement, but without the responsibilities of full-time employment.
After all, ranger Matt is there with the overview, plus his broad range of practical experience.
Not that all volunteers are retired people.
Far from it.
This morning Ali and Naomi are part of the team.
Both are in that post-degree phase, looking for the first job that will give them the all-important job experience that makes a CV look convincing.
But both want to do more than just wait while potential employers study their applications, Volunteering at Orokonui gives them real satisfaction.
It is not just a time-filler, and they notice that their youth, fitness and enthusiasm are valued here.
With just three paid permanent field staff, it has been important to have teams working autonomously, too.
That is the way it has been from the start with the planting and weeding team, famously well organised and led by Valerie Fay.
Next a team formed to do regular trapping outside the fence, as a first line of defence, monitoring and resetting traps every two weeks.
With the expected explosion of rat and stoat numbers in the forests of the Catlins and Fiordland this last summer, nobody was surprised when the catch outside the Orokonui fence increased, reinforcing the value of our team's regular trapping.
Quite simply, the onslaught never lets up.
The young native plantings around the visitor centre, being outside the fence, have also been under constant attack: hare attack.
But thanks to another team, Maree's, 18 months after they took up the challenge the plants are flourishing and the regrowth of gorse and broom is well under control.
Not that plant pest eradication is all hard work: the team had some fun honing their trampolining skills as they jumped on the piles of escallonia they recently culled along the roadside.
And so it goes on.
Work is often routine, it is true, because maintenance is a must, but the staff are always coming up with some new project, big or small, and turn with confidence to an ever expanding and ever more experienced band of volunteers to make it happen.
• Alyth Grant is a volunteer and trust board member for ONHT who loves the varied challenges Orokonui continues to offer her.
