A chance to improve your local blue space 🌊 🚣♂️ ♻️
Ever wanted to be a pirate seeking treasure? Well this experience is exactly the same! Just replace pirate with eco-warrior, and treasure with trash. Welcome to our kayak clean-up days!
What exactly happens at a Kayak Clean-up Day?
Karakia - Welcome, Introductions and an outline of what to expect
Gear-Up - We'll fit you with life jackets and give you a quick safety briefing. We'll also give you some advice how to pick up rubbish without capsizing and what to do if you discover something weird and wonderful like a shopping cart in the middle of the awa.
Launch – Armed with grabbers, gloves, and rubbish sacks, you’ll paddle out with a small group of like-minded eco-warriors. The default is two people per kayak.
Rubbish retrieval - It's time to rescue your favourite blue space from the clutches of rogue plastic bottles and ancient jandals. You’ll soon discover that picking up a floating can without getting wet can be an Olympic-level sport! Good luck.
Return to land – Once everyone’s loaded up with an impressive collection of unwanted stuff, it's time to return to shore, again in as a group, and proudly display your “catch of the day.” (Yes, someone will find a tyre, there’s always a tyre.)
Wrap-up – Expect tales about “you won’t believe what I found”, finding out the total weight of our collected rubbish, and that sweet satisfaction of making your local river a cleaner space. We will end the day with a closing karakia.
People's top reasons for joining
Saving the Fish! – Because fish shouldn’t have to swim through junk like it’s an obstacle course.
I felt like an Eco-Hero – Look at me, out here fixing the planet one kayak load at a time.
It's Cheaper than a Gym – The kayak river clean-up days are FREE. I can enjoy paddling, lifting, and the occasional “scramble back into the kayak after an unplanned swim” all for the cost of getting to the location, and it's actually quite lovely out on the awa.
I Thought I might Find Treasure – Or maybe not. But you might discover some truly bizarre junk and uncover a good story.
If you like kayaking, hate pollution, and don’t mind the possibility of getting a little wet, a kayak river clean-up might just be your new favourite adventure!
Last year, we interviewed people at a Whau River clean-up event in West Auckland to find out how it felt to be part of the clean-up.
Photos from Whau Kayak Clean Up in Kelston
This event was held on 12th October 2024 at Archibald Park in Kelston, Auckland. The Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust Team was led by Sophie Journee and Anastasia Zaleta with activities on water and on land. When not kayaking or collecting rubbish, participants were involved in learning about the Whau River and how to monitor the quality of the water. They also connected with nature through art activities. We were joined at this event by Te Whau Pathway Project, Whau the People and EcoMatters.
Photos from Rangitopuni Kayak Day in Riverhead
These photos show a different Kayak Clean-Up event in Riverhead, The Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust team and Auckland Sea Kayaks guided participants up the Rangitopuni River to explore the freshwater habitat, witness the local wildlife and learn about the important work being done to enhance the spawning grounds of native fish called īnanga.
On land our freshwater team shared knowledge about how to check the health of a river, using equipment like clarity tubes. Shout out to Shelley Bell from Whenua Ataahua who joined us to teach weaving using the natural material of harakeke.
What next?
Check out our events page to see when we're holding our next Kayak River Clean-Up day! There are more kayak clean-up events in summer than winter, so if there's nothing in the list, check back in Spring!
You can also choose to help the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust protect our blue spaces in other ways - we appreciate every donation and look after our volunteers.
Funders
Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust was at these events due to generous funding from Ministry for the Environment through Wai Connection.
Auckland Local Boards
This event took place within the rohe (boundaries) Rodney Local Board and the Whau Local Board.
