24 November 2014

How to Love a Mountain

Love Your Mountain Day will take place on Maungawhau/Mt Eden on Sunday 7 December. Hosted by Friends of Maungawhau with funding support from the Albert-Eden Local Board, the event is into its ninth year of raising public awareness about the mountain's beauty and significance, and the need for its care and preservation.

Maungawhau is one of 14 Auckland volcanic cones which now come under the Maunga Authority, a co-governance structure between the Tāmaki Collective and Auckland Council.

For many Aucklanders, Maungawhau is primarily a 196-metre viewing platform to drive up, day or night, to access panoramic views of the city. But on 7 December cars are banned from the mountain.

The road being free of traffic has led to the idea of a mass walk up the summit road. "If people then formed a circle around the crater rim and linked hands, this is a way we could 'hug' the mountain," says Audrey van Ryn, event organiser.

To Māori, Maungawhau is a sacred place, an ancestral pā site inhabited by thousands of people in the mid-1700s. Māori used to signal from maunga to maunga across Auckland using pūtātara (conches). On Love Your Mountain Day pūtātara will sound out on Maungawhau as people join hands at the edge of the crater.

Audrey and April Glenday, Friends of Maungawhau Secretary, undertook a trial run with a borrowed wheelchair earlier in the year to see how possible it would be for people in wheelchairs to join the ascent. "We were impressed with the number of people out exercising early in the morning who offered to help push," says Audrey.

Aside from the walk to the summit, a geology walk led by Dr. Bruce Hayward, author of "Volcanoes of Auckland" will start in the grounds of Government House and make its way through Eden Garden and on to the upper reaches of the mountain. There will be a Māori history walk led by a Tāmaki Hikoi guide, and tours of Government House grounds led by head gardener, Clint Jensen. Government House garden and Eden Garden, both gardens of national significance, will be open free of charge from 10am to 4pm.

All activities on Love Your Mountain Day are free. There is also a harakeke (flax) weaving display hosted by weaver Bernadette Papa, Director of the Auckland Weavers Network, a landscape drawing workshop led by Paul Johnston, chair of Eden Arts, a demonstration of mau rākau (traditional Māori weaponry) by Malcolm Kerehoma, musical performances andmaunga-themed face painting. Prior registration is required for the drawing workshop. Bernadette will invite participation in a discussion forum on the importance of conserving native species for customary Māori weaving arts, and Malcolm will encourage the public to try out the weapons. A release of butterflies is planned, although their lateness this year means that they may still be at the caterpillar stage.

For those who are more active, the Team Waiora - Hauora 4 Life event is a challenge to lap the mountain up to five times, running or walking. Proceeds from registrations will be donated to the Auckland City Mission.

Friends of Maungawhau show their love for their local mountain throughout the year through their painstaking work of replacing the weeds on the western slope with native species.

Kit Howden, chair of Friends of Maungawhau, is one of these volunteers. "Maungawhau is a potential world heritage site like many of the other maunga in Auckland. There is much work needed to improve tracks, remove weeds and control erosion," he says.

Kit attended the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Parks Congress from 12 - 19 November in Sydney.This global forum discusses protected areas and their vital role in conserving nature while delivering essential ecosystem services. "The key message is on the increasingly important role of parks as a means of protecting nature and connecting people with nature for the good of their health and the good of the economy," says Kit.

The Friends of Maungawhau is an active community group which has advocated for better recognition and care of the maunga since the 1980s. Their recently published book, which recounts the challenges and the complex heritage and ecological issues they have faced over the years, will be available to buy or order on Love Your Mountain Day.

Maungawhau, A Short History of Volunteer Action

Published October 2014.

116 full-colour pages with photos, maps, diagrams and native/weed plant lists.

Price: $20 (+ $3 P&P).

Also available in Mt Eden Village at Time Out Bookstore, Chapter Book and Tea Shop, The Essential Deli and Bay Audiology.

More information: www.maungawhau.co.nz/events/lymd.html

© Scoop Media