Farmy Army rumbles into Wainui Bay
The lineup of men and machines that made such a difference to damaged land at Wainui last week. Photo: Supplied.
Golden Bay’s own version of the Farmy Army turned out in force last week to help people at Wainui who were among the hardest-hit by December’s rain events, floods and landslides.
Logan Solly from Takaka and Campbell Dixon from Collingwood were two of the prime movers in putting together the large team of workers and machinery who assembled at Wainui last Wednesday and Thursday to help to clean up some of the ravaged land. Logan also organised sponsorship for about $2000 worth of diesel to fuel the machinery.
“Everyone I asked was keen to contribute,” said Logan. “A couple of our local hotels even contributed some diesel to put inside the men at the end of the day.”
Campbell said that he was keen to be involved in the clean-up as a way of re-paying, directly or indirectly, the assistance he had received during the disastrous Aorere floods of 2010.
“We know what it’s like to badly affected by a disaster and we know how great it feels when people come along and give you a hand to clean up.”
The team of workers and machines shifted hundreds of cubic metres of silt and debris off paddocks at Wainui, depositing it on a lower-lying paddock that had been badly damaged by the flooding.
“We built that one up quite significantly,” said Campbell. “There was talk at one stage that we were shifting about 75 cubic metres per round trip and I don’t know how many trips we did but it was a lot. It was terrific the way everyone worked together.”
The Robertson farm at Wainui was covered with thousands of tonnes of silt and debris. Because all the farm infrastructure - including the cowshed initially - was out of action, the cows are being looked after by other farmers at the moment. Logan Solly, Phillip and Rose Windle, John Byrne, Nigel Harwood and Dave Scotland are playing host to the Wainui cows for as long as they can.
Mike Robertson said he had been obliged to learn two main things out of the disaster, which he described understatedly as “a bit of a test.”
“One thing is that I’ve had to focus really hard on the smaller number of top priority jobs. I’ve found that you can’t look at the whole big picture because it would chew you up and spit you out. I’ve had to organise and mange the clean-up project where I would normally be more comfortable on the end of a shovel getting a sweat up. The other thing is that I’ve found out how difficult it is to become comfortable accepting people’s help. In some ways it’s easier to give than it is to receive. There’s a kind of guilt attached to being on the receiving end of such incredible generosity. At times I’ve broken down because of the amazing gratitude I feel.”
Mike’s family has been farming at Wainui for over 100 years and, as the custodian for the present, Mike says he feels a real sense of responsibility to past and future generations. The process of getting the farm back to its former state will be long, difficult and painstaking but he says his experiences of the disastrous rainfall and landslides have reinforced his belief in humanity.
“There are some bloody good people out there.”
Jill Foxwell was another landowner who received assistance from the Farmy Army last week.
“It was quite emotional to see what a difference these volunteers made to our place. I can’t explain how grateful we are for their work. They were amazing. We had a whole hectare paddock covered with hundreds and hundreds of cubic metres of sand, whole trees and stuff. I’d been making piles and having bonfires but the farmers’ crew and their machines came and cleaned the whole paddock up. ”
Neil Wilson
Sponsored money or diesel for the day:
Nelson Petroleum Distributors, Milnes Beatson, Wrightsons Takaka, BMTT Nelson, On-Farm Agricentre, ASB bank,
NBS Takaka, Rural Service Centre, River Inn, and Junction Hotel.
People who either supplied a tractor and trailer or drove one, supplied bulldozers and diggers or shifted machinery:
Logan Solly, Aaron Griffith and the 6830 12-tonner, Wayne Packard, Arthur Balck, Gary Balck, Bernal Reilly, Mark Houston, David Hurst, Brent and Nathan Page, Richard Tait, Greg Fellows, Campbell Dixon, Steve Garrett, Jason Lockwood, Brendon Richards, Stuart Riley, Paul Iorns, Robert Haldane, Mark Strange, Wayne Solly, Tumeke Logging, Solly’s Freight, Fulton Hogan and the Federated Farmers.
