2024

Pōhutukawa Tree Planting at Puketāwhero Park

It had been a long held vision by the Rugby League club to see native trees on Puketāwhero Park and in particular the Pōhutukawa Tree. The Pohutukawa, also referred to as the NZ Xmas tree, blossoms in the period of Matiti Muramura - the 3rd phase of Summer, where the red flowers of the Pōhutukawa are in full bloom and the under part of the green leaves turn a velvet white. During Matiti Muramura the Pōhutukawa signifies: A time to Celebrate your loved one's, those passed and those living. And the colors signify: White; new life, and purity. Green; growth and regeneration. Red; vitality and happiness. It was a beautiful day at Puketāwhero Park with many people contributing towards its significance. These Pōhutukawa trees will be for everyone to enjoy, now and in the years to come.

Waiora - Clean Waterways @ Puarenga

Another great day alongside the NZ Landcare Trust and some of our community members. This time we met up at the Whakarewarewa Rugby Club carpark and focused on the Puarenga stream. A stream which has unfortunately been subjected to a lot of industrial pollution. Whānau were able to learn about this particular waterway and how we can help to look after it better. Great company, awesome community and a yummy kai.

Taihokohoko - Community Market

Every second Sunday of each month. Taihokohoko community market is by us, for us. A place for our Eastside community to come together, bring and buy. Music. Food, arts and crafts, plants, second hand goods.

Book a market space for yourself or to fundraise for a club or group. There is no cost for the market space. Email taihokohoko@gmail.com or phone 021 246 7217

Whānau Fun Day at Pōhutukawa Drive

We had a great Whānau Fun Day at Pōhutukawa Drive. The sun was shining, tamariki were smiling. A massive mihi to everyone who came to tautoko with their different activities, information and generous services.

Waiora - Clean Waterways @ Waingaehe

We had an awesome time at our Wai Ora day to help kick of the new year. This kaupapa was an opportunity for whānau to learn about our local waterways and how we can keep them clean. Lots of fun, lots of learning, and quite a bit of rubbish picked up. Thanks to all the whānau who came along and to all who made this day possible

2023

Taiao Rēhia

The Taiao Rēhia kaupapa started in late December 2023. Taiao Rēhia is focused on getting our local tamariki outdoors, connecting with each other, their neighbours, communities and our natural environment. During the warmer periods, we held weekly afterschool activities in our local parks. Keep an eye out for any future updates and activities!

Mātiti Muramura

An awesome community celebration at Scott Ave Reserve, now named Kōauau. The sun shone, matua Paraone gave the history of the whenua & unveiled the new name, followed by a karakia and a waiata sung by the tamariki of Ōwhata school. The tamariki had a play on the new playground and everyone enjoyed the kai. It was great to have the playground builders and Lakes Council staff join us too. Special shout out to Saskia Du Plessis from Lakes Council who put in a lot of effort to work together with the residents and especially tamariki, in every step of the process. The pathway, hoops, water fountain and all of the of the special things the make Kōauau a special place, meeting the needs of the community.

Kōauau Scott Ave Reserve Playground Opening

An awesome community celebration at Scott Ave Reserve, now named Kōauau. The sun shone, matua Paraone gave the history of the whenua & unveiled the new name, followed by a karakia and a waiata sung by the tamariki of Ōwhata school. The tamariki had a play on the new playground and everyone enjoyed the kai. It was great to have the playground builders and Lakes Council staff join us too. Special shout out to Saskia Du Plessis from Lakes Council who put in a lot of effort to work together with the residents and especially tamariki, in every step of the process. The pathway, hoops, water fountain and all of the of the special things the make Kōauau a special place, meeting the needs of the community.

#ŌwhataCounts Census Events

The Rotorua Branch of the Māori Women's Welfare League funded and led with the support of Tatau Pounamu, three whānau events to encourage Ōwhata residents to be counted. Mokoia Community Association provided the BBQ trailer and Rotorua East Lions Club helped with the cooking. Census staff were there to help and drove around the streets to do home visits, as reports and calls came in of people needing assistance.

It was a lovely opportunity to spend time out in our local parks and to connect and reconnect with people from different pockets of our community. Statistics NZ said our Rotorua enumeration rate is well up on the previous census.

This initiative is a great example of our Tatau Pounamu way of working - Collectively Nurturing our Future.

8 Scott Ave - The Sequel

What an awesome show featuring incredible local talent, local stories and music for everyone to enjoy!

A few of us from the Collective were lucky enough to go and watch on Tuesday night thanks to Jack Grace and his team.

We (Tatau Pounamu) first connected with Jack in 2020 through the Shoes for Kids initiative. We have been able to support this awesome kaupapa with the Maori Women's Welfare League - Rotorua Branch now taking up the role of coordination and fundholder. Jack is an amazing local champion for the Eastside. It’s awesome to see his visions going from strength to strength!

2022

Scott Ave Clean Up Day

Scott Ave Clean Up was done this morning (Saturday 29th October). The skip bins were soon full and taken away. Awesome community spirit! Neighbour's helping neighbour's. Huge thanks to Steve and Neville from Smart Environmental, Megan and Saskia from Rotorua Lakes Council.

Unfortunately the metal recycling service was unavailable this weekend. We hope to provide the same opportunity to get rid of metals & whiteware to Scott ave residents, so watch this space!

Pōhutukawa Dr/Aspen Pl Spring Clean Up Day

Led by neighbourhood locals Hikihiki, Jack & his team, the Pōhutukawa Drive & Aspen Place Spring Clean up Day brought sunshine, excitement, tonnes of rubbish and a relief to a lot of residents who struggle to otherwise dispose of their household waste. There were 2 bin locations. One waste bin on Aspen Place and 3 waste bins & 2 metal recycling bins on Pohutukawa Drive. Old Mattresses, Fridges, BBQ’s, old couches, bikes, TV’s, truck canopies - you name it, we got rid of it. A small team of volunteers with a truck and trailer were on the road all morning tasked to pick up from homes who asked for help. Neighbours came out to help each other - carrying items by hand, in pushchairs and bringing their vehicles out to help. The 4 waste bins were packed full. One metal bin full of metal, the other full of whiteware. ♻️
Using the advice from the rangatahi waste minimisation posters, we held onto the electronics and took them to Noel Leeming to recycle 💻🖨
🗣 The team got some awesome feedback:
"Wonderful to have the young men help collect”, “Was very nice to get rubbish picked up, I’m old and didn’t have a vehicle”, “It helps a lot of people who don't have the means to get up to the dump or to pay for it”, “I can unload rubbish I've had for over a year”
Big mihi to everyone who contributed towards this kaupapa, especially the volunteers/neighbourhood locals who took on the challenge to lead this kaupapa, as well as those who helped on the day! 🌼🌿

Ngapuna Village Clean Up Day

Clean up days were identified as a kaupapa that we wanted to run again this year after the success of our 2019 Spring Clean up Day. A key learning was that the clean up should be neighbourhood-led, done on separate days, encouraging community participation and to improve the oranga of whānau and community environments.

The Ngapuna Village Clean up Day was the first of our Eastside clean up days. The event was amazing and the village was buzzing as a result. The day was so well organised with whānau of all ages volunteering and providing koha in kind. Local businesses also contributed and showed their support to the kaupapa. Reduce - Reuse - recycle was forefront, with kai, kōrero and laughter flowing all day.

2021

Tu Taua Community Event

Tatau Pounamu was involved in this Tu Taua (Te Arawa Stand Against Methamphetamine) Community Event at Owhata Primary School on November 6th. There were some amazing speakers who talked about their journey with addictions and where to get support, as well as local service providers who were there to connect and share their mahi. There was even a healing corner where you could get a free mirimiri or chiropractic session. We had a great day connecting with the community and supporting this important kaupapa

Puarenga Planting Day

In the last week of September we had a great morning doing some further riparian planting along the bank of the Puarenga awa. After some initial planting on this site in 2020, Tatau Pounamu got together with BOP Regional Council to carry out some further planting in this area.

There were 22 people there on the day, including 14 tamariki from Whakarewarewa School. The students who joined us were awesome helpers and we got 100 plants planted in just over an hour! The tamariki were very responsible with their mahi and showed us what awesome kaitiaki they are. We planted a combination of native grasses and harakeke and Phoebe from BOP Regional Council carefully lead us through how to safely and properly plant these on a river bank. We had some great kōrero about the importance of riparian planting for strengthening the banks and protecting our awa from erosion, as well as how planting can improve the habitat for native birds.

Once the planting was finished the tamariki closed for us with a lovely waiata to celebrate Papatūānuku and Ranginui. The planting site will now be fenced off and signage put in place to protect the newly planted area. We had such a successful morning and we can't wait to see what impact this planting has on the Puarenga awa.

Ngā mihi to BOP Regional Council, Whakarewarewa School, Tireni from NZ Landcare Trust, and everyone else who joined us to participate in this important kaupapa.

Eastside Community Support & Kai Drive

The Community Support & Kai Drive was a collaborative community initiative led by Tatau Pounamu and the Mokoia Community Association. The purpose of project was to:

1. Engage community support through donations of kai for distribution through the Eastside Foodbank.

2. Increase awareness of the support and services that Mokoia Community Association and Tatau Pounamu offer to Eastside residents.

We had an awesome day at Puketāwhero Park!

2020

Tiakanga Tū Youth Programme

This programme was a collaborative approach between Rotorua Youth Centre, Tatau Pounamu Collective & Te Waiariki Purea Trust. It was a 5 day program focused on building resilience and self confidence through fun outdoor water activities,while also providing lots of water safety messages.

Oranga Wai - This is a program for preschool - school aged tamariki to reconnect to local waterways and learn about conservation through our Catfish trapping program.

Kura Taiao Rangatahi - This photo is of the final 2020 get together for the Kura Taiao Rangatahi Leaders. We all traveled to Mokoia Island and learned about biosecurity.

Mokoia Intermediate - Kura Taiao supported Mokoia Intermediate and the SCION Microplastic project in 2020. Lots of new learning and discovery!

Kōhanga Reo - Kura Taiao have been working with local kōhanga reo, reviving pūrakau about Hue.

(See photos from center to right)

The Whānau Vibez - White Ribbon Day event was held, in collaboration with the Piripoho team, on Sunday 24th November 2019 at Puketāwhero Park. The event featured DJ Akunu, an info station with free White Ribbon resources and merchandise (manned by Piripoho and Te Runanga o Ngati Pikiao), a free sausage sizzle (manned by Patua te Taniwha), face painting (Karen Hansen) , native trees for attendees to take home, trap box building & backyard trapping sign up (manned by Rotorua East Lions Club), an arts and crafts station (supported and facilitated by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa) and a number of different fun games & activities.

Whānau Fun on Bikes

Our “Whanau Fun on Bikes” event was part of the popular Rotorua Bike Festival. This event was held locally, at Mokoia Intermediate with the intention to provide our Eastside tamariki and whānau an opportunity to partake in the Festival. This event was a FREE event including free use of bikes, face painting, games, sausage sizzles and spot prizes. A massive thanks to the youth that helped run our events, our amazing volunteers and to the schools, people and organisations that supported us through resourcing on this day!

Eastside Spring Clean

From the 12th-14th of October 2019, five Bins were placed in 5 locations (Hannah’s Bay Reserve, Pohutukawa drive Reserve, Scott Ave Reserve, Ngapuna & Mokoia Community Association) in an effort to support our Eastside community to create a safer and healthier environment for our tamariki/whānau, improving living conditions and overall community wellbeing. The initiative was also an opportunity for community members to connect and participate in a positive community-led project.

As a result of this initiative approximately 13,200kgs of rubbish was removed from the Eastside via skip bins and over 6,000kgs of whiteware and metals by Macaulay metals.

A big thanks to all of our awesome volunteers and to the members of our community who pitched in for a few hours over the weekend.

Thanks also to Rotorua Lakes Council, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, Healthy Homes, Infracore, Macaulay Metals and Smart Environment for jumping on board and supporting our community.

Trapping Workshop March 2019

What a way to kick off 2019!

Our Trapping Workshop was a great day!

“The event included people learning about how to build their own trap and how to monitor and trap in their own backyard. People also had the opportunity to set traps through the Hannahs Bay wetland and reserve with one of the head trappers.”

Check out the full story here!

Eco Warriors - Trip to Mokoia Island

The Eco Warriors first trip to Mokoia Island. We had an incredible day checking the set traps around the island and setting another 60 Tatau Pounamu traps to help with it’s recent predator incursion.

We had some amazing volunteers tag along with us - two very knowledgeable bird watchers and Chris Moody from Muddy Boots Photography has very generously let us use the beautiful photos that he took on this day.