It’s been at least a year since we’ve taken a large team out to Rangitoto and what a way to break a drought! Air New Zealand have been longtime supporters of Sustainable Coastlines, sponsoring numerous events over the years and sending teams out the get their hands dirty on plenty of occasions as well. As such, it was awesome to get out to one of New Zealand’s most iconic spots with one of New Zealand’s most iconic companies, and what a day we had.
Almost 200 staff, family and friends of Air New Zealand’s Green Team boarded a ferry in downtown Auckland early on a slightly blustery spring Saturday morning (typical Auckland) eager to get out to the picturesque Rangitoto. They were joined by a huge crew from the Sustainable Coastlines side consisting of staff, volunteers, photographers, videographers, caterers and support staff who all the day possible. In saying that, it was a massive team effort all around and the Air New Zealand crew got stuck in helping to load and unload the ferry and being general all-around awesome people.
On board the ferry, Sustainable Coastlines’ General Manager, Ryley Webster welcomed the team and delivered the all important safety briefing (we like to keep people safe out there) so that when we arrived on the other side, we could pretty much get straight into the clean-up.
Four groups were established and assigned to Sustainable Coastlines staff members to head out to areas all over the island. Some of the more active attendees headed out to some of the farther parts of Rangitoto such as Islington Bay and McKenzie Bay while those with young families and others focused on the nearby southern shores.
A couple of hours of clean-up flew by before the teams had to head back for the delicious seasonal (and plastic free) lunch cooked up by our awesome caterers on site. The team were well rewarded for their efforts.
After lunch, we had some free time and took the opportunity to bask in the success of the day.
In total, we hauled 1,200 litres of litter off of the shore of this motu taonga in a monumental effort by all those involved. The ferry was certainly a bit quieter on the journey home!
A massive thanks to the Air New Zealand Green Team for getting out there with us and to the company’s management for allowing this to happen. Special mention needs to be made of Shelley Crawford for spearheading the effort on the Air New Zealand side – we couldn’t have done it without you!
As a last note, we would like to once again acknowledge Air New Zealand’s support for our cause. Our records show that over the past 10 years, as a direct result of Air New Zealand’s support, we have enabled over 7,700 people to remove over 317,000 litres of litter from the marine environment.
