Busy volunteers have introduced a number of improvements to Ruby Island this summer.

Coordinated by the Ruby Island management committee (RIMC), volunteers have constructed a base platform for a new BBQ, built raised foundations and erected new information signage and a new storage shed. 

The new robust BBQ was airlifted by helicopter onto the island yesterday (March 29) and placed beside the old stone BBQ (the third in the last 20 years) near the island’s pontoon.

RIMC member Nic Blennerhassett said the old BBQ was no longer in use: “It was a bit dangerous with the open gas flame, and burnt out a couple of times. We'll get a top made for the old stone structure, so it'll be a table alongside the new BBQ.”

Ruby Island volunteers Brian Nimmo (rear), Peter Polak manning the shovel, Chris Aspinall (L) and Bruce Jackson (R) work on the frame for the BBQ’s concrete slab. 

An estimated 5,000 visitors cross to the island each year and the BBQ is provided free of charge to discourage visitors from lighting their own campfires on the island which is covered by a total fire ban.

The airlifting of the BBQ was timed to coordinate with the maintenance of the island’s Norski toilet which is emptied at the end of each summer.

About ten metres from the new BBQ, a new information sign has also been erected on the main beach, near the start of the island’s loop walking track.

(L-R) RIMC co-ordinator Michèle Lacroix, Peter Zeleny and Brian Nimmo erected the island’s new interpretation sign last month.

Nic said the RIMC really appreciates the community support, not only from volunteers working on the island, but also Caltex which sponsors the BBQ gas supplies.

The community funding also covered the cost of constructing a shed designed to house the RIMC’s mowers, weedeaters, loppers, pruning saws and secateurs, fuel, herbicides, maintenance equipment and so on, Nic said.

This equipment used to be squeezed into a couple of huts near the toilet but after the mowers were damaged by flood water in December 2019 a safer storage solution with greater capacity was designed.

“We love to have the space to store the gear safely and securely. It was a jenga exercise in the old huts, to get everything in there and still be able to close the doors,” Nic said.

The new storage shed is high on the island, off the beaten track and well away from rising lake waters: “We sited it carefully so as not to be visible from the lake and the town,” she said. 

Unlike other Lake Wānaka islands which are under the management of the Department of Conservation, the QLDC is responsible for Ruby Island and it has an approved management plan which permits the RIMC to voluntarily undertake work activities on the island. 

PHOTOS: Supplied