Island beaches ship-shape thanks to clean team

ANY OLD RUBBISH: Redoubt North School students celebrate the end of their coastal clean-up on Great Barrier Island.

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South Auckland children have been doing their bit for the Hauraki Gulf.

They were among 400 schoolchildren from 17 primary schools across Auckland who travelled to Great Barrier Island by ferry with the Sir Peter Blake Trust.

Their mission was to clean up Kaitoke Beach and Tryphena Harbour as part of the Great Barrier Island Coastal Clean-Up 2010.

For many it was their first time on a boat.

Along with local schoolchildren they collected rubbish from
seven locations on the island and found, among other things, lots of glass, a showerhead, a fridge door, a cushion from a carseat, a mattress, a baby carseat and seven tyres.

Sir Peter Blake Trust programme manager Hannah Prior says the day was a huge success with more than 30 large sacks of rubbish collected.

After the clean-up the children returned to Mulberry Grove School for an education session and a welcome swim.

- © Fairfax NZ News