To kick things off, a team of over 300 volunteers gathered at Shorland Park in Island Bay to roll up their sleeves for the sixth Weta Digital beach clean-up with Sustainable Coastlines. Over the course of the morning, they managed to rid our beautiful South Coast beaches of 250 kgs of rubbish. Well done to everyone involved! Sustainable Coastlines is a charity doing incredible work to support the wellbeing of our local environment. We are proud to be the principal sponsor of the 'Love your Coast Wellington' clean up and education tour.
Our numbers grew at midday as more guests arrived at Shorland Park for part two of the Big Beach Day Out. Picnic baskets were supplied by Eat My Lunch, a well-known local charity with a 'buy one, give one' model. This meant that by the end of the day we were able to provide 775 lunches for Kiwi kids who would otherwise go without. Some of our favourite food trucks were there to provide coffee and Wooden Spoon ice-cream.
Local talent line-up, DJ Takas, Ida Lune, and Laughton Kora provided music. The bouncy castles and face painting were a big hit.
We expanded our event beyond the shoreline by inviting Mountains to Sea to run educational snorkelling sessions. Guides took groups of all ages and experience to explore and learn about the Taputeranga Marine Reserve.
We're were also fortunate that Bait House Aquarium, home to one of the largest collections of local sea life in Aotearoa, opened especially for us to run marine education sessions.