De-littering the rest area at Haurua

No bin ~ lotsa litter

Dune Cleaning At Uretiti

This is what I collected on a short walk through the sand dunes at Glorious Uretiti Beach...







Hope you are all starting to think about where you can help on our next Clean Up Day

Saturday 16th October

A Random Act of Eco-Care to Commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior Bombing

Poripori Road is a popular summer swimming hole at the foot of the Kaimai Range, although even in today's chill there was a naked local braving the cold...


To commorate the 25th Anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior Bombing in 1985 my daughter and I decided to commit a Random Act of Eco-Care.

The carpark and surrounds appeared quite tidy but on further examination there was heaps of RUBBISH.

It didn't take us long to collect this lot.

What did you do today?

Who Are The People Who Do This???

Somebody had a nice meal & coffee from McDonalds at a really picturesque spot by the Cross Road Boat Ramp in Tauranga.
There was a litter bin about 3 metres away from where they threw their crap out the window.


THANK GOODNESS FOR LITTER ANGELS...

Saterday in Katikati

Saterday in Katikati - the nice dude at the Mitre 10 store gave me 2 big plastic bags to fill with litter on my walk back from Katikati town to The Maverick Dragon at Uretara Domain - I filled both bags with ease. I bought a new walking stick in Katikati ~ sure makes it easier to hook the cans & plastic out of the undergrowth.

Whakamaru Gathering Cleans Up

A Fantastic Effort from the Team at Whakamaru
This is taken from the Commanders Blog - for MORE FANTASTIC PHOTOS Go to ~ http://www.xenacommander.com/travelblog.htm)www.nzmotorhome.co.nz Cleanup Day A great idea...

a great thing to do... Recently there has been a lot of bad press about camper vans who leave rubbish behind in our lovely countryside... Some Councils are closing park over places and banning mobile homes from stopping overnight in many places.. I am not wanting to get into a big debate about the rights and wrongs or who the main culprits are but responsible motor homers are also being lumped into the same category and losing access to many places previously enjoyed. A member of the nzmotorhome forum suggested having a clean up day to provide some positive energy into the debate and to demonstrate that there are motorhomers out there who only want to enjoy the country... take away happy memories and leave only footprints..

So around the country a whole bunch of forum members got together in different places and cleaned up some rubbish from camping places and park over spots and even the roadside... Some in Manukau.. Some in Nelson.. and some (including us) in Whakamaru.

We left Turangi in the truck at around midday heading around the Western Access road. We stopped a lay-by which is a popular spot for camper vans and picked up a whole bag full of rubbish...

It is amazing what people throw away in these places...

In a beautiful spot like this why would you throw rubbish into the bushes.. let alone using it as a toilet..! But when we left there was none to be seen...

We continued on to Whakamaru and drove towards where I thought we were meeting up with others and spotted a couple of motorhomes on the side of the road and people picking up rubbish.. It was Mark and Kathy and Mark and Leanne... They told me I had passed the turn so turned the truck around a little further up the road and stopped to pick up another pile of rubbish.. including a toddlers stroller..!! TK will recycle that to a charity.

Once we filled up the bag we drove back to the designated camping spot...

We joined Andrew and Debbie who were already there with their caravan... I didn't know about this spot and it is a beautiful place which I am sure we will use in the future.. TK saw the lake and wished she had bought along her fishing rod... I reminded her that today was about cleaning up rubbish..!! We can come back another weekend

TK lugs a discarded chair to the pile... she also retrieved a chair that was up a tree..! Cats love to climb trees..! Mark and Leanne's Mobile house of fun behind.. A great motorhome... Mark showed me through and gave me some good ideas for my build.. Cheers Mark.

The pile of bags starts to build up.. including a huge piece of styrene foam found nearby... we patrolled along the lake edge picking up every bit of litter.

I made sure I had gloves on... Someone had tossed household rubbish into the bushes... Yuk..! Very unpleasant... But it was all picked up and thrown into the truck...

A forum member... Tarja designed the stickers which we stuck on all the bags to let the council know that there are motorhomers and caravaners who care about our countryside... Great idea.

Work all done... Someone.. I think it was Andrew produced a brazier... and soon a fire was going and some company was being enjoyed and new friends made... From Left... Mark and Kathy... Leanne and Mark.. XC standing... Debbie and Andrew.. Greg and Dzjamilla arriving in the background with kids Kaitlin and Sam...

A beautiful spot and a great afternoons work...

Greg and Dzjamilla join in the circle... A brief time for us as we had to head back to Turangi for a prior commitment... Goodbyes were said and we left the party heading to Taupo first then to Turangi..

We Thanks to all who participated in this event for making it so much fun.

Lets do it again some time.

Happy motorhoming... and keep New Zealand clean....

XC

The "A" Team Had a Ball at Beachlands

A Great Day was had by all at the Auckland Clean-Up Day

New Friends were made and Wine O'Clock was enjoyed by all!

An article & photo appeared in the Pohutakawa Coast Times

FANTASTIC EFFORT

Thanks to ROAMNZ - Smillie & Grant Henderson for organising this event

Nelson Litteraties Hit the Headlines

The Nelson Clean-Up Day Team Hit the Headlines in the Nelson Mail

Here is the link:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/3731038/Van-owners-trash-bad-image

WELL DONE TEAM

"Roadcombing" on State Hwy 30

CLEAN -UP DAY 22nd of May 2010

It was a GLORIOUS sunny afternoon in the Upper Waikato, after meeting the others at the rendezvous my son and I got down to it...
Roadcombing along State Hwy 30 near Whakamaru.

Here is a link to the photos I took of the litter my son & I collected "Roadcombing" along State Hwy 30 near Whakamaru..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13993&id=116629271692253&ref=mf

We collected LOTS of plastic & glass bottles, disposable coffee cups, snack/confectionary wrappers, disposable nappies and bits of smashed road markers.

Roadcombing is just like Beachcombing in that occasionally you find a treasure or 2!

Yesterday I found a delightful fish key ring - a nice reward for the effort involved.

Thanks to all involved at Whakamaru and the other venues

Counting Down to Clean-Up Day

Clean -Up Day is a happening thing in 3 locations on Saturday 22nd May 2010

Pine Harbour Auckland, Whakamaru & Nelson

This initiative has gathered momentum & support through the online Motorhome Forum:

nzmotorhome.co.nz

The Auckland Team are Meeting at the Irish Pub at the Pine Harbour Marina.
10 am on Saturday 22nd

The Whakamaru Team are meeting at the Picnic Area near the Christian Camp on State Hwy 30 at 2 pm

and the Nelson team are meeting at the Rock Rd Carpark (across the Road from 623 Cafe & Bar)
at 10 am

I think this is a great start for an initiative that was just an idea in my mind 3 weeks ago.
The internet has played a pivotal role in the development of this project and I hope that this small seed grows and matures to a Nationwide Clean-Up Campaign.
I really appreciate the support & commitment from the members of the online forum who have got in behind this idea.

"Freedom Campers" need some good press & our country needs cleaning up.

You Have to Start Somewhere

Kia Ora All

I am SO OVER Litter

After 7 months & 12,000km travelling our Fair Country, I am appalled by the rubbish & litter that DESPOILS our Fair land.

Plastic in all its many forms, cardboard, paper, al-cans & tear-tops, takeaway packaging, toilet paper & faeces etc.

We should be Ashamed of ourselves ~ Our "CLEAN GREEN" Image that all those Tourists come to experience does not bare too close a scrutiny....

Many of our Beaches & Waterways, Rest Areas & Roadsides, Picnic Area & Parks are polluted with filth.

So I have decided to initiate the Kiwi Litter Angels Project.

I am assembling "Kiwi Litter Angel" Packs containing:
Gloves, Bio-degradable Rubbish Sacks & Stickers that say:
"A Random Act of Eco-Care by Kiwi Litter Angels" to be placed on bags of collected litter before appropriate disposal.

I have made a Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/ref=home?#!/pages/Kiwi-Litter-Angels/116629271692253

To upload "Before & After" photos of Random Acts of Eco-Care & monitor amount of Litter Collected.

We are holding our FIRST Clean Up Event at:
Whakamaru Picnic Area SH 30
2 pm 22nd May 2010

Please Join Us

Cheers
Maverick Dragon