Kia ora, We are ROVE

Rove stands for Restore Our Valued Earth and this team of four have been working to do just that or at the very least, as much as they can for as much of New Zealand as they can.

Two members of Rove, Claire and Tim Bright, live at Ha Hei and both grew up on the Coromandel Peninsula. Tom and Laura are from Christchurch.

They are four friends and four environmentalists, brought together by a common dream and passion to restore the environment in New Zealand. Recently, they spent a day working with the Purangi Conservation Trust, placing DOC 200 traps. “It is a heavy job but very much needed to eliminate the stoats and rats. Setting them out along the trap lines is very tough going,” says Rose. But they didn’t just cycle over from Ha Hei to do this for The Purangi Trust, which would have been impressive enough. This stop was part of a three-month cycle journey all the way from Bluff, and they were making twelve intentional project stops altogether between Bluff and Cape Reinga. This journey began in winter (certainly not the best weather) because the timing was more suitable for the work commitments of our four intrepids.

All along the journey, they have stopped to connect with grassroots environmental groups and community-based leaders who care for and develop reserve protection. At each point, this team of four have participated in the local projects and spent time with the people who are doing the mahi to restore their environments. Another very valuable dimension of their work is achieved at the same time, but almost happens ‘by the way’- the sharing of ideas, methods, successes and failures which Rove collects and passes on to others, but also records them for their website, Instagram and Facebook. This is the important awareness raising that is an essential part of Rove’s mission. Rove says, “We wanted to learn as much as we could from a variety of sources, and spread the word about the great local projects that are already underway.”

Their motivation, Claire sums it up. “We wanted to do something to contribute to New Zealand especially with the growing climate crisis and we also wanted an adventure, so we combined the two.”

The Purangi Conservation Trust was well aware of Rove’s undertaking, alerting The Informer. After a days rest at Tim and Claire’s home in Ha Hei, the Rove team came to assist the trust by taking some trap boxes into the QE2 block for placement. Rose says, “We loved hanging out with this motivated team of cyclists making their way through New Zealand on an environmental mission. Please Follow them!”

Rose also explained a little of the Purangi Conservation Trust’s work, “Our current pest management is the QE2 backdrop Trust Block. The consuming tasks are pest control, removing the wilding pines and planting natives. We get support from many quarters - Pub Charities, Lotteries Environment Heritage Fund, private donors, and we raise over a third of our annual project costs ourselves.

The journey to restore the environment is an expensive one in terms of passion, energy, and the need for volunteers and money. Ask anyone involved in the many environmental groups and community-based restorative projects on the Coromandel Peninsula.

This extraordinary cycle journey by ROVE from Bluff to Cape Reinga (including Ha Hei, Whitianga and Coromandel) is costly, but paid for totally by the four members themselves – everything! However, all funds raised through their website and Facebook are split equally among the twelve local groups they have stopped by to work with on their journey the length of New Zealand, and that includes the Purangi Conservation Trust. Be generous to Rove; get on their Facebook and make a donation. They are making a great difference and this is a vocational commitment at their own expense, not just the huge cycle undertaking.

https://www.rovenz.co.nz/ For the Facebook and how to donate. Its easy!

Pictured: the Rove team L to R Claire, Laura, Tom and Tim.