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Above: Two of the Huka Falls volunteers with the Supreme Winner trophy from the TrustPower Taupo Community Awards.
Below: The Trust's volunteers and trustees. |
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Whether you are a visitor to Taupo or you are lucky enough to live there it is likely that you are benefiting from the work of a group of dedicated volunteers from the Huka Falls Trust.
The Trust was established in 2000 to provide security at the Huka Falls car park, which had been labelled one of the worst car crime areas in New Zealand. As well as patrolling the car park the Trust’s volunteers also run a kiosk at the popular tourist site, selling postcards, drinks, ice creams and souvenirs and donating any proceeds to local charities.
By 2006 the Huka Falls Trust had made a major impact on the local community. Not only had they narrowed car crime in the area to almost nil, they had also donated tens of thousands of dollars to the local community. They had also raised the $84,000 required to improve the kiosk out of which the volunteers operate.
This work gained the Trust the title of Supreme Winner at the 2006 TrustPower Taupo District Community Awards. The Trust then went on to represent the region at the TrustPower National Community Awards in March 2007.
Since then the Trust’s volunteers have kept up their security work for 364 days each year. This involves four volunteers working on most days, with five volunteers required from Boxing Day until the end of January.
Trustee Manager Eileen Coe says there are 25 volunteers who work alongside the Trust’s five paid staff and she says she could not operate without them.
Volunteers are also involved with the Craters of the Moon geothermal site, which is looked after by the Craters of the Moon Charitable Trust and works closely with the Huka Falls Trust.
“Over the last year some of the forestry area at the Craters of the Moon site has been cleared and the trust has harrowed and sown grass in this approximately two acre area and we plan in time to do some sort of native educational walk.
“We are also working with the Department of Conservation to try to improve the car park area at the Huka Falls site,” says Eileen, who is also the Trustee Manager at Craters.
The Craters of the Moon Trust has also taken over the maintenance at the Craters site since the Department of Conservation ceased their involvement in the site when it became a user-pays park.
“In 2006 the Government decided that the Craters site was no longer a free park and that entry fees were required to those who wanted to experience the geothermal walk. As a result we now have to charge for entry, however we keep those fees as low as possible,” says Eileen.
The entry fee to Craters of the Moon is $6 per adult and $2.50 per child, with a family entry fee of $14.50 (i.e. 2Adults and 4 children 5 years to 1 2years.) There are seven volunteers who work at the park to keep it open, with a percentage of the entry fees paid back to the Government each year. The Trust also employs a ground supervisor to manage the maintenance of the large site.
“Although some of our volunteers left because they did not like the business aspect of the park, which came about after user-pays, it is still a very affordable tourist attraction compared to other user-pays parks around the country. We have seven volunteers who continue to work at Craters of the Moon and help the 150,000 people each year who come to the park,” says Eileen.
Any money the Trust receives which is not taken up by maintenance and operational costs is given back to the Taupo community. In 2009 the Huka Falls & Craters of the Moon Trust donated $66,000 to the community to groups such as Lake Taupo Hospice Trust, Taupo Citizens Advice, Taupo SPCA, Wairakei Primary School for security alarms, Taupo Safer Community Trust and providing funds to other security patrols in the Taupo community.
The Trust also provides three scholarships each year to local students studying tourism or conservation, with each three year scholarship worth $3,000 per year.
Eileen Coe says winning the Supreme Award at the TrustPower Taupo District Community Awards was a great honour to the volunteers.
“After all their input it was a great reward for our volunteers and it made them feel they were appreciated by the community.”
For more information about the Huka Falls Trust please contact Eileen Coe
on 07 378 9833 or email cratershuka@xtra.co.nz . |
