Author: Taylor

Orokonui is a long term project. With a 1,000 year plan ahead of you it can be easy to forget where you have been. Luckily there are photographs, these records of our past allow us to see just how much this place has changed in a relatively short period of time.

The visitor’s centre was built in 2010, one clear marker of it’s position is the large tī kōuka/cabbage tree out the front. This tī kōuka also marked the entry to the Swain farmhouse, the image below from the 1920’s shows two tī kōuka either side of the door. We don’t know which one of these trees is the one now in front of the visitor’s centre, only that one of them survived to welcome visitors to the sanctuary more than 100 years on. It was the Swain’s who also farmed this land wth cows. The historic stone byre who’s foundations are still present near the visitor’s centre was where milk was collected before being taken by horse and cart to the roadside for collection. 

When built, one key features of the visitor centre is the wetland area in front of the deck. Not only an important part of the view, these ponds help process water from the building and carpark, ensuring it is in the best quality possible before continuing down the Orokonui stream. 

The change in this area is phenomenal, each year a great display of toetoe and harakeke occurs. Many birds now use this area, including kakaruai/robins and titipounamu/rifleman which have been seen hopping through the bushes. Keep an eye out on a warm day because this area has also become popular with tussock skinks. Most recently this area has become home to a moa, or at least a carved wooded sculpture, providing guests with an opportunity to consider those birds lost before being wowed by those that remain. 

Planting for the rare plants garden began in 2010. This has become a great asset to the sanctuary with many examples of plants rare or uncommon in the surrounding landscape. Inside the sanctuary with no grazing pressure from goats, deer, rabbits or possums plant growth has been at its most extreme. Many of the plants in the garden have taken very well to their environment, and the display of flowers such as the daisy Celmisia hookeri at the right time of year is truly remarkable. If you haven’t spent time slowly wondering this area you should. As well as the large flashy and unusual. There is also a suite of smaller equally as incredible plants amongst this collection. 

Looking from the other end of the garden you can get a sense of how much this part of the sanctuary has grown. So much in some places that tracking tunnels that were once out in the open have been swamped by native plants. Where gorse once dominated a future forest has pushed up to take its place. 

Interestedly where once planting was a focus, control of this vegetation is now a major task for our team. To ensure we can carry out our conservation activities we must keep clear our 60+km of monitoring tracks and to avoid incursions or fence damage we must keep trees off both sides of the fence.

Most excitingly in terms of plant growth we are now also seeing a proliferation of young podocarps like tōtara, miro, and rimu emerging. These are the future of our forest, and their return to this landscape is a big part of the sanctuaries 1000 year vision. We may not be around to see them get big, but we can we can be happy that we got to experience and enjoy Orokonui, and that others will as well for generations to come. 

The best way to ensure we can continue our work for another set of progress pics is by donating, becoming a member, or setting up a bequest. To donate, or read more about donating head here.

This story was first featured in the September edition of Birdcall our online newsletter. Sign up to it on our homepage to stay up to date!

Recently the visitor’s centre played host to a gathering of a different sort of wildlife, with the St Margarets College disco themed ball. After some research online the organising students found that no other venue stood our quite like Orokonui.

Over the years Orokonui has hosted everything from weddings and concerts, to corporate meetings and birthdays. But we believe this may be the first ever event at Orokonui to have a light up disco floor.

With the café chairs cleared out there was plenty of space for the 180 students to dance, chat, and hang. The use of the classroom also allowed for a dedicated photo space, perfect for capturing the variety of incredible outfits.

While the light up dance floor and other decorations made the space look amazing, students noted that nature had done the best job decorating. There were even times when the sunset over the valley and silver peaks even upstaged the disco floor.

Most importantly as with any good party, there was abundant delicious food to keep dancers fuelled into the night. All the kai for this event was crafted by our stellar café team. They worked hard and managed to pull off an amazing spread with not just enough food for all, but with something for every dietary requirement as well.

Despite the size of the event the student organisers were able to focus on enjoying the evening thanks to our events team taking care of everything else. After the event they had this to say about the experience.

“Amazing service! From the initial visit, to the ball day and, even post ball, 200% all throughout. It was super easy to work with the wonderful team at Orokonui they made things on my end so so much easier than I could’ve ever imagined. They helped facilitate and allow my vision to come to life.”

Attending the evening was also the funnest way the students could support conservation, with all proceeds of events like these going straight back to helping us help wildlife thrive.

To host your next event at Orokonui get in touch with us by emailing events@orokonui.nz.