A clean-up mission is underway on the West Coast.
People from all over New Zealand, plus a few from overseas, are spending the week clearing gorse at Okarito Lagoon, New Zealand's largest unmodified coastal wetland, around 130kms south of Hokitika.
It was a smooth start to the day before things get prickly for a group that calls themselves the 'GorseBusters' - and they're back for a third year.
"I wouldn't call us professionals," one said.
"I've come down from Picton, this is my second year doing this," a second said.
"We're not here about the glamour - we're here about the results," a third said.
This year volunteers are honing in on Okarito Lagoon, which they reach by boat.
"The lagoon here is the largest unmodified coastal wetland in the country. We've only got about 10 percent left of our wetlands and this is pristine, sea to mountain top," GorseBusters organiser Barry Hughes said.
Gorse arrived from the UK in the early 1800s and some of these GorseBusters have also come from afar.
"We've also got international visitors joining us for the first time this year," Hughes said.
The working bee is so popular there's a waiting list.
"They were filled in September and October for the next year, there were only three of us newbies that got in, everyone else is from the last year," one GorseBuster said.
The GorseBusters include farmers, forestry workers, accountants, lawyers and people who have never done this sort of work before in their life.
The same things keep bringing them back.
"Just turn around and look at that view, you can't beat that view, nice company and you're doing a bit of good conservation work," a GorseBuster said.
"The birds and the lagoon," another said.
"The camaraderie and you get to know people and have a bit of fun," a third said.
The work serving not only the environment but the people as well.
