Help clean up Makara

Makara is one of my favourite parts of Wellington. I love the drive over to the rugged coastline, and can spend hours just enjoying the view from the cafe there. Incidentally it is a very good date location – you take them to Makara, get the superb ice creams at the cafe, play foosball on the near antique table and take in the view.

You can also hike up to the old gun emplacements and I’ve even done a Makara to Island Bay weekend tramp on a couple of occasions around the bays.

Anyway Sustainable Coastlines and Meridian are having aa clean up of Makara Beach tomorrow (Sat 24).

This spectacular piece of coastline is well looked after by locals everywhere with public access, but the area is heavily affected by a regular flow of waste from fisheries in the Tasman Sea, the Whanganui River and Marlborough mussel farms.

The rugged terrain of Meridian’s West Wind Farm, usually closed to the public, will be opened-up for this special one-day event, marking Meridian’s commitment to work with the entire community look after their local stretch of coastline. This will give volunteers the opportunity to experience remarkable views next to the enormous windmills and areas like Te Ikaamaru Bay –
which is so stacked with rubbish that those who are familiar call it ‘plastic beach’.

Volunteers are invited to join the clean-up crew for a fantastic day out exploring the area and give something back to the beautiful Makara coastline.

Meet at the Sustainable Coastlines display container on Makara Beach at 10am, Saturday 24 November to sign-in and collect equipment.
From Makara participants will split into teams and head out along the coastline on foot and by 4WD to clean-up the area from Makara Beach around to Ohau Bay. Free lunch will be provided from 1pm at Makara Beach with the support of Meridian Energy, whose staff will be mucking-in to cleanup too.

Find out more and register online at www.sustainablecoastlines.org

I’m in Dunedin otherwise I’d absolutely be there. A great way to make a difference to a special part of Wellington. I just ove the views from there. If you have some time available on Saturday consider helping out.