“Oh, what a week, late May twenty-twenty-six” (to the tune of ‘Oh, What a Night by the Four Seasons). And what a week it was. The weather was kind to us overall, a bit cool overnight, but we have certainly had it colder on previous May working bees, plus a great crew.

To start the week off, after a busy summer in the park, a little TLC was required around the Visitors Centre. With Visitor Centre staff Carly and Trudi providing a beautiful lunch on the Monday for the vollies, we were keen to get stuck in.

20260518 Group Enjoying Lunch (picture Kat Jordan)

The vegetation around the building was overgrown and some of the features of the building were no longer visible so Monday and Tuesday saw the group working on thinning out the vegetation and opening the view to the building, letting the artwork that is there be appreciated again, pruning the surrounding areas, mulching and removing excess vegetation. Overall, a good tidy up.

Another space long overdue for a rejuvenation was the Outdoor Theatre and Mal took on this project for the week replacing the rotten boards on the bench seats from timber he could salvage. Later in the week some of us then took on the task of repainting the repaired seats.

While this hive of activity was going on, we had an intrepid four who headed to the Douglas-Apsley National Park on Tuesday to spend a couple of nights camping at Heritage Falls to do some track work on the Leeaberra Track. I was told it was cold and dank overnight, but they persevered and spent a couple of days clearing fallen and overgrown vegetation, and dodging leeches. Thank you John, Ralph, Edwin and Jacob for your efforts.

And then of course there was weeding. For the rest of us (Petita, Lambert, myself, Peter, Marilyn) we spent the Wednesday removing Spanish Heath and mullein from the northern end of the park near Bicheno. It was a beautiful day to be beside the coast, and apart from enjoying the view, we managed to remove 411 Spanish Heath plants and 10 juvenile mullein before returning to Coles Bay. Thursday we were back at the Visitors Centre, painting seats, treating the rust on the railings at the Hazards View lookout, plus weeding along the Coles Bay foreshore. Plenty of sweet pittosporum removed as well as Bridal Creeper, agapanthus and broom.

20260521 Lambert Repainting Seats at Outdoor Theatre

Friday morning was tidy up, finish up, pack up and for a couple, a quick trip up Mt Amos putting in some track markers in areas where visitors have been going astray. Then to round off Volunteer week we were treated to a delicious BBQ brunch, cooked expertly by George. A huge thanks to all the Parks staff who were out and about with us and of course to all participants – John, Ralph, Edwin, Jacob, Petita, Marilyn, Lambert, Peter, Ros and Mal.

Jenny, coordinator FOF

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