Restored Faith in Human Nature

Recently I had a bunch of lads on my property to repair a massive erosion issue that has been worsening over time. The team was from Tasman Civil (http://www.tasmancivil.com.au/) , lead by a top young bloke by the name of Matt Peachy. The rest of the team comprised two Maori fellas, whose names I don't recall, and Rusty (pictured).

Now the work comprised shifting a mass of rocks on the spillway, re-structuring the channel, digging a sump....blah....blah........ All that is not important. 

Now, it was clearly a mistake on my part to point out to the New Zealand expats that I had recently observed a rather large sloughed (shed) snake skin among the rocks that we had to move. As a consequence, the rather fearless Rusty, Matt (who was the boss incidentally) and I were left the task of extricating the rocks, whilst Team New Zealand sat on the bench. This slowed down progress somewhat, but Matt was determined to adhere to Tasman Civil's environment policy (Environment Policy). Matt and Rusty both demonstrated their commitment to Policy Dot Point 3: Act with courage and integrity with respect to our Stakeholders (that's me) views and contributions. I had most clearly espoused, at the commencement of the job, that no snakes were to be harmed in the making of this drainage line!!

The outcome of all this? Extremely effective erosion mitigation achieved via a structurally sound and robust rock battering down a very steep gradient. As for the snake? Well Rusty did find her and she too was carefully extricated. At the completion of construction, she was released back into a fully refurbished east-facing rockery where she can enjoy the warm Spring sunshine when it finally arrives. 

She was not small, either! See for yourself: Going home