Extra

Evening adventure at Aratoi

Stargazing in the park. PHOTO/ANDY BATEMAN

If you are an early riser like me (not by choice but because of young children in the house) you will have seen the sunrise recently. We often take our natural environment for granted, forgetting that the sun always rises towards the east and sets in the west, moving closer to the north as the Winter Solstice approaches.

The sky is like a giant map, a calendar and compass all in one. Certain stars can only be seen at particular times of the year so when you observe that star rise in the evening or the morning it can remind you to do something, gather in the harvest, plan for a voyage or plant.

The rising of Matariki in the dawn sky signifi es a special time for us here in Aotearoa. It is when we take note of the Winter Solstice, our nights are at their longest; but it is also a time to refl ect on the past year and plan for the next.

Spica is our autumn star, rising in the east in the evening. It reminds us to bring in our harvest before the cold weather comes. Scorpius/Te Matau-aMāui is our winter marker, slowly crawling across the sky for the six months of winter.

Join us for a public programme in connection with our exhibition Ngā Haerenga/Journeys – Celebrating Matariki.

Using the stars to navigate and tell the times of the year has been an important resource for people for thousands of years across the world.

This is an outdoor programme, starting at Aratoi and moving into Queen Elizabeth Park, 7-8pm and is weather dependent.

Cost: $20; limited to 40 spaces. Bookings essential info@aratoi.co.nz or call (06) 370-0001 to book your place.

Creative writer to feature at Word

Multi-award-winning writer Jillian Sullivan will feature at Wairarapa Word’s event on June 19. Sullivan is the author of fi ction, non-fi ction, memoir, short stories and poetry for adults, teenagers and children. She has taught creative writing in NZ and the USA.

Sullivan has a masters’ degree in creative writing as well as winning awards in New Zealand, Australia and the USA for her poetry, children’s stories, memoir fi ction and nonfi ction.

Sullivan grew up in Masterton but is now based in the Ida Valley in Central Otago, where she cycles and tramps in that unique environment. She is the secretary of the Central Otago Environmental Society.

As part of the discussion about writing, memoir and the environment Sullivan will include the visual and poetic power point on walking the length of the Manuherekia River that she presented to the Environment Court.

Otago University Press describe Sullivan’s latest book, Map For the Heart, as ‘a haunting collection of essays braiding history and memoir with environmentalism. It leads readers to the core of the questions that persist throughout a life: who to love, how to love, how to be independent and yet how to live a moral life that also cares for others’.

Joy Cowley said, ‘The writing is so beautiful it fi lls me with wonder, laughter and tears’.

Writer and Wai Word committee member Madeleine Slavick said, ‘Map for the Heart really grew on me. A blend of personal, environmental and political. Poetry and prose. The last fi ve essays are phenomenal - unforgettable’.

In her memoir A Way Home Sullivan describes the process of building her straw bale house. Publisher Potton and Burton said, ‘The house that emerges through this memoir is a physical testament to the rebuilding of a life, and of moving past loneliness and loss to fi nd a place to call home’. Copies of A Way Home and Map for the Heart will be on sale at the event.

• Wairarapa Word will meet in the foyer at the Carterton Events

Centre on Sunday, June 19, at 3pm. Entry is by koha. Masks are required. There will be an open mike session at the beginning.

Wairarapa Word is supported by Almo’s

Books and Carterton

Creative Communities. Jillian Sullivan.

PHOTO/SUPPLIED

JUNE UPDATE

June is the start of the planting season for the Tonganui Corridor, which ultimately would stretch from Aorangi Forest Park (pictured) to the Remutaka Ranges. Credit: Joe Hansen.

A gift to the future

South Wairarapa District Council is proud to be associated with the Tonganui Corridor project, which is restoring South Wairarapa pasture land back to native bush. The four-year project’s ambition is to recreate a green “corridor” all the way from Aorangi Forest Park to the Remutaka Ranges by linking patches of existing bush with new plantings and the help of private land owners. This is year 3 and by the end of this season, it’s hoped the project will have planted around 170,000 trees. Some will take a century to reach maturity. However, the end result should be a forest of totara, kahikatea and rata along with many other species at different heights and hues. While many groups are involved, Aorangi Restoration Trust is in charge of the project’s delivery, and its chairman Clive Paton says it will be beneficial in many ways. For the landowners, it’s often land that is of no pastoral value to them, and the trees will help offset their carbon footprint. “There is also predator control that is going in with the trees so that’s helping with Predator Free NZ, and just enhancing the countryside and creating places for birds, and linking us to Wellington, in the long term.” The trust shares the cost of the plants with landowners, and implements the planting. Robert Burgess, the corridor’s project manager, says there are “lots of dots to join up, but when you stand back and see the big picture, you start to see a corridor emerging.” As its contribution this year, the Council will plant out 3.5ha of land opposite Kohinui Marae, with trees bought from the marae’s newly established nursery. This adds to 4.5ha of Council land planted out last year in the wake of some pine felling. Paton hopes that the trust will get an extension of funding so that the full vision of the corridor can be completed. “We have about 38 different plantings across the valley and if we can keep that up, in 10 years’ time things will be starting to look a bit different down there.” If you would like to get involved, a community planting day is scheduled for July 29 at Palliser Ridge, planting out some of the 6000 trees given to the trust as part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. For more details, contact aarondonges@hotmail.co.nz Welcome to our monthly information page. It’s always a pleasure to celebrate the many wonderful things going on in our communities and this month we highlight two of them – Matariki and the Tonganui Corridor. Both of them required a vision, a build-it-and-they-will-come kind of thinking. And so this year we have a public holiday which is not only unique to New Zealand but also has a really beautiful meaning – a moment to pause and reflect on life. The Tonganui Corridor is also about a key value – the need to protect our indigenous environment. Private landowners, local authorities, government departments, environmentalists and Māori have banded together for a common goal, and the Council is pleased to be part of it. The next local government elections are looming large now. Councils need a diverse range of people – ethnic backgrounds, ages and genders - to properly represent their communities. If you care about our community and want to help make decisions of substance, do think about standing. Candidate nominations open next month and a candidate handbook with much more information will be up on our website soon. The elections themselves are held by post in September and October. This month many of our staff have been occupied by getting the Annual Plan ready for adoption at the end of the month. Your feedback is important to us. In the last month we have printed a summary in the Times Age, invited your online or written feedback, run a public meeting via Zoom, and held six drop-in sessions with elected members. This all informs what we are drafting right now and we thank you for your thoughts. You can read the FAQs people asked us, on the Annual Page section of our website. As winter beds in, please stay safe, stay healthy and enjoy the great Mid-Winter activities I hear are being organised around us. Harry Wilson CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Matariki

Wairarapa’s dark skies make this region a perfect place to learn about Matariki, the Māori New Year - which is why Te Papa’s Stardome is making a rare visit this month. Up to 1600 local school children are expected to go through the museum’s inflatable planetarium when it visits later this month. Guided by Wairarapa Library Service’s STEM co-ordinator Scott Ogilvie, the planetarium will be made available to school children in Featherston, Greytown, Martinborough and Carterton. Scott hopes that people will come away learning “a little bit more about Matariki and just more of an appreciation of the night sky.” “It’s something humans have been looking at forever, using them to help tell stories, to use as calendars and to navigate.” Adults will be able to see the Stardome too. Bookings for public viewings can be made on the Wairarapa Library Service website, www.wls.org.nz Tuesday June 21 6pm - 8pm Carterton Events Centre Tuesday June 28 6pm - 8pm Featherston Anzac Hall

Rates rebates

Hurry – don’t miss out on the 2021/22 Rates Rebate. Applications close 30/06/22. Did you know if you are on joint superannuation you could be eligible for a rates rebate of up to $665.00 on your rates? Even if you’re not getting NZ Super, if your rates and joint gross income are below the threshold, you could be eligible. For example, if your rates are $2500, and your joint (gross) income is under $38,900 (with no dependents), you would qualify for a rebate of up to $665 a year. For a rebate on rates at $3000, your joint (Gross) income should be under $41,500. • Rates $3500 – Joint (Gross) income under $44,300 • Rates $4000 – Joint (Gross) income under $46,900 • Rates $4500 – Joint (Gross) income under $49,600 To be eligible, you need to a legal ratepayer of the property (residential only), living at the property on 1 July 2021 and applying between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022. More details can be found at this website: https://www.govt.nz/ browse/housing-and-property/getting-help-with-housing/getting-arates-rebate/rates-rebate-calculator

NOTICE OF MEETINGS

Meeting agendas are available for inspection at least two days before the meeting at the district libraries, Council offices and at www.swdc.govt.nz. Public participation is welcome. If you wish to speak during the public participation session at any of the below meetings, please phone 06 306 9611 at least 24 hours prior to the meeting or email enquiries@swdc.govt.nz. Masks are required for those in attendance and physical distancing is recommended at all times. If you have cold and flu symptoms, please stay at home. The meetings will be livestreamed on YouTube Channel, where possible.

JULY MEETINGS

PLANNING AND REGULATORY COMMITTEE Wednesday, 13 July at 10.00am Supper Room, Waihinga Centre, Texas Street, Martinborough ASSETS AND SERVICES COMMITTEE Wednesday, 13 July at 12.30pm Supper Room, Waihinga Centre, Texas Street, Martinborough COUNCIL Thursday, 14 July at 9.00am Supper Room, Waihinga Centre, Texas Street, Martinborough Harry Wilson CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Dog regos

The deadline for the next year’s dog registrations is drawing near (31 July). Don’t let your woofer go around unregistered.

Look out for your registration form in your inbox or letter box from this month. You can return your form and pay your registration fee at Greytown or Featherston libraries or at our Martinborough offices from 20 June.

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