Pāua hut – Winter working bees

Two teams completed a huge amount of maintenance on WTMC’s Paua Hut in the Ōrongorongo valley. Read on and check out the photos below. To book Pāua Hut, head to the booking page.

Work completed:

Built new firewood shed. Pre-fabricated in Wellington, brought in by trailer then installed on site. Dug foundations, mixed concrete for the footings

Collected manuka firewood and chainsawed into max 300mm lengths to fit in the new fire. Filled the new shed to capacity!

Removed old wood burner, grinded concrete slab to make level, installed new wood burner and flu, installed new Aquaseal Flu kit and Flu stays. Secured wood fire onto concrete slab.

Built Water tank stand: Pre-fabricated stand in Wellington, dug foundations and concreted into place.

Installed new stainless steel kitchen bench after removing old bench and wonky tap. Built a corner shelf.

Plumbing:
> Installed new kitchen tap, water pipes & drains > Installed and plumbed the new hand basin in the entry alcove > Installed and connected the new #2 new 450L water-tank on new tank stand > Installed tank water pipes, valves, shut off taps, drains and overflow pipes

Soak pit: Dug new 1m x 1m wide x 1.5m deep soak pit (adjacent alcove) and feeder trenches for sink wastewater and tank overflow. Filled with boulders and gravel

Toilet Relocation & Rebuild: Selected new site and dug 0.8m x 0.8m x 1.8m deep hole, de-rooted and gravelled path to new site, removed and demolished old toilet building. Pre-built new toilet in Wellington then transferred and installed and painted on site.

Rebuilt Entry Alcove: Demolished the two exterior walls and replaced with new timber and plywood. Relocated windows with one in each exterior wall. Primed and painted walls.

Interior makeover: Sugar soaped all interior walls and ceilings, cleaned inside cupboards and removed all rubbish from storage area under bunk. Removed dilapidated kitchen items.

Four retro chairs installed in hut. Bench seats x2 repaired

Emptied out storage area under bench seat,removed rubbish, concreted base and filled all rat holes

Rebuilt bunk ladder to make it taller and safer to use

Made seat cushions from the old mattresses for the bench seating

Rodent control – installed three new yellow rat poison stations around the exterior of the building

16 . Installed 10 new mattresses ($250 each)

Built Firewood log saw horse and secured in place adjacent the woodshed

Installed fire extinguisher, fire blanket and new First Aid Kit in the hut

Securely stored tool kit, ladder, saw, spade and other maintenance items in the hut plus cleaning supplies etc for use at future working parties

Re-clad plywood exterior of hut behind the fire

Catering / Cooking: Meals organised for 15 workers over the two 3 day weekends

Removed three full trailer loads of building rubbish and old mattresses from site

Gravelled area in front of the hut and over soak pit

Cleaned and repaired gutters plus cleaned out the original water tank

Brought in two full gas bottles and took out two empty bottles for refilling.

Re-positioned front door lock to make it easier to fit the padlock

Some before / after photos:

THE JULY TEAM !!!

Anthony C & Will N: Kapiti Coast builders, previous hut users and good keen hunters. Installed new wood fire, installed new kitchen bench and completely rebuilt the entrance alcove. Good keen men!
Rex & Anita B: Orongorongo Valley locals and veteran Clubbies! Prefabricated tank stand, firewood shed and firewood cutting saw horse in Wellington, installed all on site; collected and chainsawed firewood, collected gravel and sand from river for concrete, soak pit and paths. Top kiwi bloke and blokess!
David S: Veteran clubbie coaxed out of retirement, Dave was our resident plumber! Designed, purchased and installed the new plumbing system. Stoic contribution!
Karl S : WTMC’s most loyal and furtherest travelled working bee devotee, Karl drove from Stratford to help the cause! Dug tank stand footing holes, dug trenches, poured concrete and was Dave’s apprentice plumber. Top kiwi bloke!
Sam K: Committed to increasing hut patronage, our loyal Bookings Officer was another tireless worker! Dug footings for the firewood shed, shifted gravel, dug trenches, shifted dirt, mixed and poured concrete, helped with digging toilet hole, never seen not working!!! Booking Officer Extraordinaire!
Regan M: Regan excelled by bringing STARLINK to Paua Hut! A great enthusiast in the toilet relocation project, Regan dug a deep hole through endless roots and upgraded the path. Shifted huge quantities of gravel and rocks. Another tireless digger of soak pit and trenches! Worked like a Trojan! Indispensable team member!
Grace H & Alannah J: Newcomers to the WTMC scene, Grace and Allanah truly shone as our caterers and cooks. They sugar soaped the entire interior of the hut and kitchen cupboards, disappeared down the new toilet hole taking it from 1.5m to 2.0m deep, disappeared under the bunks into rat infested territory, totally fearless workers! An Amazing Duo!
Graham H: A veteran member and vital member of the firewood collecting, firewood cutting and gravel shovelling teams! Indisputably another good keen man!!!
Brian & Jan G: Called in for the day on Sunday. Repaired a rat hole in the side of the hut and replaced the broken timber in the bench seats. Cheered the Team on as we started to fade! Very welcome visitors!
Roger B: Working Bee Organiser and Happy Hour Host! Never seen to actually do any work but enjoyed watching others working out in the pouring rain! Conductor of a spectacular Orchestra!
Canine #1: Koda Benbrook the Hungarian Vizsla. A real hunting dog perpetually scoping out prey in the valley. A local of the Orongorongo Valley. Secretly a big softie!
Canine #2: Jack Bolam the sparky Fox Terrier. Hovered around the fire and kept the floor safe from food scraps. Instigated a fight with Koda which he clearly lost! Emotionally needy!

**THE AUGUST TEAM !!!**