Holy 5#1T Batman!
Note: access to Rabbit Island is restricted to half an hour
after sunrise to half and hour before sunset (ie: daylight hours).
The time the gates will close are clearly posted on a large sign as
you enter
For most of us locals, this area of Rabbit Island is the part
you drive past on the way to or from the "back beach", for a good
day out or some other fun like walking, horse riding, swimming,
mountain biking or, of course, geocaching. Although for some of us,
we remember it as the part of Rabbit Island where we can get cheap
trailer loads of firewood during winter weekends 9am-1pm when
access is policed by volunteers earning money for their kindy,
sport group or society - (during working days, the gates are open
but public access is by appointment only)
But something unique is going on here, and it isn't at all
obvious.
This cache will take you to an information sign explaining the
general flow of "bio waste" as it is received from surrounding
councils, treated, and then used.
Its use leads the world, and overseas engineers and politicians
come visit to learn from what is being done right on our back door
step.
Plainly put: after the treatment of raw sewage, the remaining
sludge, or biosolids, is sprayed under the pine trees. The result?
30% improvement in growth rates.
They are having a problem however: they can't get enough of it.
As a region we are producing less biosolids than we used to - most
probably due to the Nelson Pine plant no longer discharging as many
solids in its industrial waste water.
Rabbit Island should be covered by solids twice a year, but they
simply don't have enough to keep to the schedule - so please do
your bit ... at home! Not on site... :)
There are "buffer zones" where public access areas meet the
spray areas. The cache is in such a buffer zone, so you do not have
to be concerned about getting exposed to biosolids.