As the sun rose on another picturesque morning at Bondi Beach, all seemed normal.
The air smelt of salt and roasted coffee beans, with the residents of the eastern suburbs making their way to the coastline to enjoy all the relaxation and leisure it has on offer.
However, behind the scenes, a group of volunteers were getting to work.
Made up of Sydney Roosters players as well as Mirvac and Easts Group employees, the project was a simple yet large undertaking for the group.
The brief? Clean, maintain and reorganise the boat sheds of the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club.
Painting, moving huge items, sweeping floors and sorting through hundreds of unused or ageing items were just some of the jobs on the agenda.
All of the Club's history originated out here and it's an honour to look after it for future generations.
Tuku Hau Tapuha
Sounds simple. However, such is the enormity of the job, the entire process normally takes a team of five or six volunteers an entire day to complete.
Led by the likes of Ben Thomas, Tuku Hau Tapuha, Vuate Karawalevu and Ronald Volkman, the job was complete in just 90 minutes.
"Firstly, it would take us a month just to find the volunteers to do it," Bondi SBLSC director, Brett Pattinson laughed.
"It would take us at least a full day to clean that shed out. Today, it took about an hour and a half."
Such was the pace of the clean-up efforts, the group had the job finished hours earlier than originally scheduled.
And one man in particular was leading the charge.
"Ben Thomas has been ordering the troops around really well," Hau Tapuha said.
"He's been working really hard, stacking all the boards and sweating up a storm."
For Hau Tapuha, an impressive young forward who already has Maori All Star honours to his name, the opportunity to be back out in the Eastern Suburbs community was too good to refuse.
"We're a really big community Club," he said.
"That's one thing we pride ourselves on. We're not just footy, footy, footy, we've got a lot to give back to our communities and families.
"All of the Club's history originated out here and it's an honour to look after it for future generations."
The Roosters have been a sponsor of the Surf Club for over a decade, regularly supporting it through volunteer initiatives such as this one.
On this occasion, they were joined by both Mirvac and Easts Group employees, led by Mirvac Assistant Development Manager Aleisha Milligan and Easts Group CEO Joe Kelly.
"Mirvac has a pretty good reputation all round, but a big part of that is because we give back," Milligan said.
"It's so lucky we've had the players here, because they've definitely done most of the heavy lifting.
"It's great that so many people showed up, I underestimated how many Easts Group employees would throw their hands up to help out as well."
