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Project Island Song’s 12ks of Christmas Jo Hay

  • One day to go!

      11 December 2025
    Posted by: Project Island Song
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    Tomorrow is the final day, and it’s a big one for all our participants. Those who’ve been building up from 1km will have their biggest run yet, while I’m sure the 12km is not feeling any easier for those who’ve done it 11 times already!

    A few highlights:

    • Jacqui was interviewed on RNZ talking about taking part in the 12ks dressed in her vintage clothing collection.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nights/audio/2019015751/walking-144-kilometres-in-impeccable-vintage

    • The Northern Advocate ran a story including a focus on Jo’s efforts to clean up 12km of litter in Taipa. Jo (now joined by her husband) has been collecting 5 black bags of rubbish every day!

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/on-the-up-locals-walk-run-and-pick-up-litter-for-bay-of-islands-fundraiser/OYPBELMJEVCK5CNVBQ6GYKZL5U/

    • Cam has now run 252km over the past 11 days, which is the distance by road from Russell to central Auckland. Mind-blowing!

    • Just to make things a little hotter, Laura (the penguin), Abby (dolphin), and Maryanne (bat), completed some of their kms in costume at the Paihia and Russell Christmas parades!

    Thank you so much to the 281 people who have already donated so generously.

    Wouldn’t it be an incredible boost to the absolute legends taking part in this if we could get to $18k, $19k, or even the full $20k tomorrow?!

    Please support them and help us to get there however you can - chip in a few dollars, or share their efforts far and wide to encourage others!

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  • Day 11

      11 December 2025
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    Hey, great news. Today Andy and I made it to our 12k goal. We celebrated with a local family at the Bush Fairy Dairy. Shout out to Kylie, Charlotte and Ben for their support and the ice cream and coffee!

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  • Day 10

      10 December 2025
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    Feeling like this is quite a routine. Up early. Walk along Oruru Rd waving and chatting to locals and collecting a kms worth of roadside rubbish. Consistently around 5 black rubbish bags per km. Feeling good about this mahi. Had a sweet fan club today as we passed the dairy farm.

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  • Day 9

      9 December 2025
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    Starting early sure helps. The sun is low, and it's still dewy and cool. Today I tried to capture us in shadows.

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  • Day 8

      8 December 2025
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    Off to a racing start today and the 8th km was done and dusted by 8am. Nice cool misty morning, plus hire a hubby @ 0$ per hour. Thanks hon. Love it doing both sides of the road.

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  • Day 7

      7 December 2025
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    Up early to get the mahi done in the cool of the morning. Today's km seemed to go super fast with help again from hubby - thanks hon.

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  • Day 6

      6 December 2025
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    6kms of Oruru roadside cleaned up now, and halfway through the challenge. Highlight for today was having my husband Andy join me. So today both sides of the road got cleaned up! A swim at Taipa and an ice cream at Cable Bay afterwards we're also definitely highlights.

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    • 06/12/2025 by Coopers Beach Combined Bowling Club Inc.

      So wonderful that you’re doing this. Looks like Andy helped out. Good for you!

  • Day 5

      5 December 2025
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    I'm really feeling like this clean up project is starting to be significant. With 5kms roadside cleaned up now, it's fun driving down Oruru Rd, back towards Taipa along the route I've cleaned. But one thing I learnt today is to be careful dragging the bag...I got a "puncture" in my bag and was leaving a trail of rubbish behind me!

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    • 06/12/2025 by Coopers Beach Combined Bowling Club Inc.

      This was significant from the get go. A punctured bag would have been a bummer.

  • Day 4

      4 December 2025
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    Yay for rapid numbers! Today I knew exactly when I'd got to the 4km mark. It was a mixed bag (pun intended) for the clean up today. Some easy where ditches had been scraped recently and a really yucky bit in the drain outside the dump road...but they're both beautiful now!

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  • Day 3

      3 December 2025
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    Here's the rubbish I dropped off to the Taipa transfer station today to make way for the next lot.

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  • We just reached our $12,000 goal on Day 3!

      3 December 2025
    Posted by: Project Island Song
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    Oh my goodness - after an absolutely colossal day yesterday for Give a Little Day, with more than $6,600 donated in 24 hours, we can’t quite believe that we have just reached our initial goal of $12,000 on the morning of Day 3!

    Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to support our amazing runners and walkers. We’re completely blown away by the number of people getting behind the 12ks this year.

    A big welcome to our newest participants - Elsie, Kevin, Michelle, Rachel, Sandra, Sarah, and Steph.

    We’ve now got a whopping 20 people taking part which is fantastic, and between them they will be walking or running a combined 2,166km by 12th December!

    This is longer than the length of New Zealand (1,600km), and just slightly more than the distance between Sydney and Auckland (2,156km)!

    What now? Well with 9 days of walking and running still to go, we have just raised the overall goal to $20,000.

    Can we get there? We really don’t know but we hope so! This would be a truly phenomenal amount of money to raise for our collective mahi on the islands.

    Please continue to get behind all our participants, especially as the feet start to blister and the legs begin to tire! Spread the word to friends and family, walk alongside them (literally or figuratively), and be cheerleaders for their awesome efforts. Your support will keep them going.

    Spare an extra thought for all our participants today who may have to time their runs/walks well to avoid getting very soggy!

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  • Day 2

      2 December 2025
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    I did a split shift clean up today. And a shout out to Shaun, who stopped and told me he was buying me a coffee at the local Cafe! Thanks so much!

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  • Day 1

      1 December 2025
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    My first day of the 12ks for Christmas Challenge fundraising for Project Island Song.

    I did my 1 km and experimented with how to manage the logistics of picking up the rubbish for one km. There was a lot! I think I'll get more efficient as the days go by.

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