The Templeton Community Orchard is an initiative of the Albert Town Community Association and Queenstown Lakes District Council. Located beside the Clutha River volunteers care for a range of fruit trees.
Its a great initiative.
This week the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop delivered a large storage box designed to contain garden tools for use at the orchard.
We love working with others who also support and strengthen communities across the Upper Clutha.
For something different the MenShed team this week completed the repair of a pool table.
The table had been dropped off at Wastebusters but needed some care before being onsold to begin many years of new usage.
The Wanaka Community Workshop works with Wastebusters to “make good” items such that they avoid being dumped but rather continue their useful lives. This work reflects our shared goal of reducing waste.
Something a bit different for the MenShed team this week.
We have started work crafting a pretty fancy outdoor chair from a wine barrel. The barrel itself was sourced from one of our regions great wineries.
It was a team effort working shoulder to shoulder breaking the barrel down. The next job will be reshaping the timber staves and then finally assembling the chair.
The result will be a great addition to any outdoor setting.
A steady steam of folk utilise the Wanaka Community Workshop in order to enhance their camper vans.
Beds, cooking benches, storage areas and shelves are crafted using the Workshop’s tools and equipment.
The period leading up to Christmas New Year and through the summer are particularly busy periods. Most folk are visitors to our region. Many are in town for 2-3 months or more. However almost all are preparing their vans for a break away, up the West Coast or down and around Southland, before returning to work here in the Upper Clutha.
We love working with other community groups.
The Albert Town Community Orchard, located in the lower Lagoon Reserve and Templeton Park, features native plantings and fruit trees. Volunteers maintain the space, which includes a produce stall for sharing surplus fruit and vegetables.
Its a great example of communities supporting communities.
Our MenShed team are currently finishing off a large wooden box designed to house a range of gardening tools. A few other projects are in the design phase.
We are delighted to help.
Wastebusters and the Wanaka Community Workshop enjoy a great relationship. In many respects we complement each other.
This week the MenShed team are putting the finishing touches on a table for staff at Wastebusters to enjoy their coffee. Originally dropped off at Wastebusters and refurbished with recycled timber at our Workshop its a small but practical example of working together.
With a range of community projects on the go, the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop have been busy collecting building materials for reuse and upcycling.
The bulk of these materials are donated from local businesses. We pick them up, cut the timber to size and then fabricate items from traps to play equipment, seats to shelving.
Wooden pallets are especially flexible. We are currently designing a series of “flat pack” display tables and bar leaners for the 2026 Wanaka A&P Show making the best from this raw material which would otherwise be simply dumped.
It’s great to see quality work. After a couple of weeks Henry has created a gem.
A wooden jewellery box. Something special for someone special.
Much of our work within the woodshop at the Wanaka Community Workshop are simple projects. They require design and fabrication but not craftmanship.
Its great to see Henry turn that around.
As the year moves toward its end, the Wanaka Community Workshop is awash with traps. Traps targeting stoats, rats and cats. Each has their unique design.
In December more than 100 traps each built from recycled materials were completed by our MenShed team.
Each will soon be out doing their job protecting our natural environment. Look for some of them alongside to Clutha River between Wanaka and Luggate.
Last week the Workshop had a sales table at the Aspiring Christmas Market. While a range of items sold the hot item were small wooden crates.
So many crates were sold the team gathered back at the Workshop to fulfill orders.
It was great standing alongside other volunteers who also attended the market on behalf of their community group. We picked up ideas and projects on how we can contribute to their role of enhancing the wellbeing of communities across the Upper Clutha.
Win win all round!
The MenShed team from Wanaka Community Workshop recently took the opportunity to catch up with members of the Hawea MenShed.
We loved hearing about how the Hawea Shed works and shared our own stories.
The Hawea MenShed play a significant role in supporting the community across Lake Hawea and Hawea Flat. They create their products from a character filled workplace which for many years operated as the base for a local builder. Its a great home.
The two groups have a lot in common. Next year we shall talk though how we can learn and support each other – its great to get to know the neighbours!
We love seeing kids having some fun and enjoying stuff created at the Workshop.
Under the guidance of local artist Chrissy Wickes over recent weeks kids have applied their skills to create something special – vibrancy and colour.
We love it.
We aim to keep the stools for use at the workshop – something practical, especially at cuppa time, as well as adding something special to the place.
Tools and equipment are key to the operation of the Wanaka Community Workshop. Every so often tools need replacement and also purchase additional and new tools.
This week the Workshop took delivery of a fancy battery powered stabler. We have other stablers that do a similar job but this one fires in narrow stables.
It may not sound much but to members of our MenShed team its a game changer.
We are currently building over one hundred pest traps. Each trap has a couple of small sheets of chicken wire. The sheets are tough to attach using a hammer and ordinary stables. But with the new stabler the job is sweet – easy and quick to attach, with little or no damage.
Lets hope the stoats appreciate the quality improvement!
The Hawea Christmas Wonderland opened this week. It’s a great example of what a strong and active community can achieve. The festive experience runs for 12 days. Don’t miss it!
This year the Wanaka Community Workshop played a small role in creating the display. Estelle lead the design and fabrication of a unicorn. Its stunning – great job Estelle.
It was down tools this week as the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop enjoyed a get together along with some Christmas kai.
Volunteers at the Workshop enjoy each others company. We vary our days with a variety of work projects as well as some “us” time.
It was great to have partners along.
Thanks to Gillian who pulled things together, Sue who created a smart table and Ros who sorted the chicken.
The MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop are busy crafting over one hundred pest traps for deployment around the Upper Clutha. Each is built from recycled materials except for the mechanism which is a new and of a Department of Conservation design.
Production runs of this size enable the whole team to work shoulder to shoulder on a single project. Great for strengthening community among members of the team.
Next month the traps will be available for deployment targeting pests such a stoats.
The traps will be placed and checked by volunteers drawn from across the Upper Clutha. Apart from enhancing our natural environment the volunteers who carry out this work are illustrative of the power of community.
We are proud to be part of it.
Every Saturday from 10am to 4pm the woodshop at the Wanaka Community Workshop hosts a supervised session.
On hand is an experienced supervisor who is available to help and provide advise to members of the Community Workshop wishing to undertake their projects.
This weekend the work focused upon upgrading vans owned by visitors to Wanaka and New Zealand.
Many of the owners have heard about the Community Workshop and the opportunities it offers by word of mouth or via social media comments placed by those whom the Workshop has supported in the past.
Most owners are enjoying a working holiday New Zealand are are in Wanaka for a few days or weeks. Others have been or are planning to stay in Wanaka for a few months.
Every now and then the MenShed team escape.
This week the team headed for Cromwell. We spent much of the morning at the Goldfields Mining Centre. After a wander about spotting relics we moved to getting down to action. We had high hopes for gold. Unfortunately our panning skills proved inadequate. Better luck next time!
We stopped over at the Highlands Motor Racing Park and over lunch watched a couple of supercars do their stuff.
We were really fortunate in visiting the Hector Egger Holzbau New Zealand factory in which buildings are prefabricated. What a fantastic operation – the way New Zealand could move forward to create sustainable and affordable housing.
We then visited a local artist who carves his art from wood. Beautiful with a feel of quality.
One of our aims of the Wanaka Community Workshop is for our team to enjoy each others company. Trips such as this offer the opportunity to experience what is best in our region, learn something new and have some fun.
We loved it.
This week the Wanaka Primary School held their twilight fair. The event was not only a fund raiser for the school but an event to bring the community together.
The MenShed team from the Wanaka Community Workshop contributed to the show via the provision of a range of sign boards. Simple sandwich boards and a couple of pairs of “walking ski’s”.
Wanaka is a strong community and we love being part of it.
The MenShed team from the Wanaka Community Workshop are always delighted to create projects for schools that serve communities across the Upper Clutha. Recently the team have delivered projects for schools from High Schools to Pre Schools from Tarras to Makarora, Wanaka to Hawea.
This week a couple of us dropped into Hawea Flat Pre-School in order to measure up for a new project. We took the time to check up on some previous work.
This work includes moveable room dividers, a holder of large format books, a couple of mud kitchens for the playground.
The Hawea kids are great – happy and active. We love seeing our projects being used and bringing joy.
Team members from the MenShed this week visited Hawea Flat pre-school to measure up a new project. While on site we took the opportunity to catch up with customers of earlier work.
The Guinea Pigs, our customers, seem pretty happy in their abode. A few weeks back we renovated their hatch and created a walled outdoor space where the pigs could wander.
Its great to see them happy but even better to watch the kids interact with their pets.
We love following up on our products and check whether our customers needs and desires are met. This time around the Guinea Pigs seemed to give thumbs up despite not have an opposing thumb!
It always great to put ideas into practice.
Over the last couple of weeks the MenShed team have created table games for kids and the elderly.
Based on some images the game requires dexterity in moving a ball from one end of a box to another. Our testers aged 3 and 80 prove the game is simple but challenging.
Over the next week or two we shall distribute the games to pre-schools and aged homes.
The produce stand which has been serving the Tarras community from a location outside the primary school will soon be back in service.
Over recent days the stand has been refurbished by the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop. Replacing timbers, installing dust covers and a paint job have resulted in a produce stand better than new!
The MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop have recently completed a prototype shelter for skinks and lizards.
The project follows attendance by members of the team of a form focused upon how each of us could support New Zealand’s native skinks and lizards. Discussion highlighted the role of cats predating skinks and lizards which were especially vulnerable because their communities often occupy very small geographic areas.
By providing shelters to which skinks and lizards could retreat to when threatened the team aims to improve the survivability of skink and lizard populations.
Our prototype build from corrigated iron is now being tested in Wanaka. If it proves worthwhile we shall try more!
The Wanaka Community Workshop greatfully receives a a wide range of donations – building materials, equipment, textiles and tools. We make use of such donations in the creation of products for a host of community groups and schools across the Upper Clutha.
That said the Workshop does generate waste, material we cannot use because it is damaged or unsafe. Some of this waste is metal, in particular steel.
We put our scrap metal aside and a couple of times a year a member of the MenShed team adds it to trailer load which is hauled down to a scrap metal dealer in Dunedin. Here our metal waste begins its own journey to be recycled.
Every now and then workshop equipment fails.
Mostly its a quick fix but this time around the electric motor that powers our large table saw needed replacing. The table saw is a key tool within the wood workshop. As a result we are keen to have the saw operational.
The MenShed team first looked at repairing but as this was not an option we now have a new motor on hand. However it’s not that simple.
In order for the new motor to be fitted some steel cutting, welding and drilling was necessary. It’s now all back together. We just await an electrician to wire things up and check all is safe.
Should be all go soon.
Our region is one of the worlds premier wine producing areas. Our team have recently been working to recycle materials key to the creation of great wine.
Wooden barrel’s are the basis of some artistic and comfortable furniture.
With little more than a photograph for guidance our team are using their skills to create a product that matches the quality of our wines.
We love it when people drop into the workshop.
We love it even more when they bring cake and sausage rolls!
A few weeks back the MenShed team delivered some new play equipment and storage box’s to Hawea Flat Primary School. Today we received cake and sausage rolls in return.
Great trade!
The MenShed team are well advanced in the creation of a produce stand for the Hawea Flat kindy.
The produce stand will allow those families who have extra crops from their garden to share with those in short supply. Given the height of its expected cliental this stand is a smaller version of designs we have previously built and which can be found throughout the Upper Clutha.
We enjoy working with schools and community groups, designing and producing products of practical value. Built from recycled materials and stand will play its role in reducing the cost of living for families in our community.
Tarras Primary School has long managed a produce stand where locals can drop off and pick up vegetables and fruit grown locally. Its a great system.
Recently the produce stand was delivered to the Wanaka Community Workshop. Over the next week or two the MenShed Team will undertake a program of renewal and refit. The aim is to get the stand back in operation for summer with better protection from dust and rain.
This week the MenShed team are finishing a set of large wooden storage box’s for the Wanaka Art Centre.
We love working with other community groups serving communities across the Upper Clutha. An important part of what we do at the Workshop is to aid community groups and schools achieve their outcomes. We do this by designing and building stuff that they need for their programs at minimal cost thus enabling their resources to be spread further.
It’s a great outcome for all.
We recently had delivered to the Wanaka Community Workshop a household item – a classic iron flying pan or skillet in need of repair. It needed a new handle to replace one which over time had loosened which meant the pan could spin about – not great when preparing breakfast!
The team had not undertaken anything similar. However with a few minds applied to the problem, some lathe work and a long straight drill hole completed we soon had the issue fixed.
Its great to see items repaired and returned to service rather than just replaced with something new.
The Hub is a centre where the folk of Wanaka gather and through Community Link access a host of community services.
Various groups host sessions that involve speakers and presentations. A key bit of kit for such gatherings is a lectern – something for the speaker to place their notes. Unfortunately the lectern at the Hub was looking worse for where – falling apart actually.
The MenShed team love challenges like this and with some bracing and riveting we soon had the item back in service.
It was a fun project as well! Great stuff.
Most of us have a story that involves a trolly. A classic toy from way back.
This week the MenShed team completed a robust trolly for the kids who attend the Wanaka Montessori pre school. Made from recycled timber donated to the Wanaka Community Workshop we hope todays kids have as much fun with wheels as we did.
It’s not unknown for members of the MenShed team to find themselves in the dog box.
This week however the MenShed team completed a dog box designed to make life a little more comfortable for dogs visiting the Wanaka Recreation Centre with their master. The dog box provides shade, a water bowl, a comfy mat. Brilliant!
Everyone enjoys cake – well almost everyone.
A cuppa is a key element in our morning volunteer sessions at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
Every now and then we also get cake. Its not often however we get a cake replicating the mountains with snow.
Our team includes folk who create with wood, but now also with food. We are a lucky bunch!
While the MenShed team enjoy crafting stuff, we love seeing how this stuff is used.
This week we delivered play equipment in the form of a mud kitchen and play bench to a kindy in Albertown.
Great to see the kids reaction to their new gear. Makes life worthwhile.
After months of patient and careful work, our talented team members Lorette and Murray have crafted a beautiful display case to protect a very special piece of art — a hand-built model ship made by Jan.
Kate was determined to honour Jan’s work and ensure it would be well protected, so she asked the Workshop for help. Last week she joined us for morning tea (with a delicious cake in hand!) to celebrate the completion and handover of the Ship’s Case.
A true community effort, combining skill, care and connection.
Wanaka Community Workshop is seeking a hands-on, practical person with knowledge and experience in using woodworking machinery and power tools.
We need someone for 6 – 8 hours on a Saturday to:
If you are skilled with tools, enjoy sharing knowledge, and want to support a thriving community initiative, we’d love to hear from you!
Consistency is important to us to enable the Workshop to be open to members on a very regular basis.
This is a paid role for a trial period until the end of the year. If successful and it proves worthwhile to the WCW community, it will continue next year.
To express interest or find out more, please contact the Operations Manager:
Email: [email protected]
Sewing classes are really taking hold in the Textile Space at the Workshop. We started with a School Holiday workshop which has spilled over into our After School Fashion sessions. Students made a Japanese knot bag in the first two hour session with tutor Angela, and now are working hard at a pair of trousers or a more complex bag style. There is a mix of upcycled materials and patters, alongside of new.
Young students love story time and reading. Over recent weeks the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop have created mobile storage racks for the large format books that are the basis for class stories.
The latest examples are off to Tarras and Hawea.
We love designing and crafting stuff that brings practical benefits for kids and the Upper Clutha community.
Storage box’s are useful.
The MenShed team have created all sorts of box’s for all sorts of things. Many have gone to schools, others to community groups, firms and households. Some are large, others small. Most come with handles, some with lids.
Each has be built from recycled materials.
The box’s are a great item for our team to work on.
A pre school in Albertown will soon take delivery of a mud kitchen. Over the last year or so the team at the MenShed have designed and created a range of play equipment (including mud kitchen’s) for schools and pre schools from Makarora to Hawea, Albertown and Wanaka.
Every item is built from donated and recycled material.
The mud kitchen’s come complete with connections for water to be added to thee mix – the basis for some real mud!
The Wanaka Community Workshop is one of a network of community and volunteer agencies serving the Upper Clutha. While we work to strengthen the wider community we also benefit from support by local households and firms.
A key element of this support are the donations of tools, equipment and materials.
This week the MenShed team received a range of tools. We shall put them to great use creating items of practical benefit across the Upper Clutha.
Over the July school holidays the Wanaka Community Workshop hosted classes for those seeking to design and fabricate textile products.
The program of sewing classes is part of the Workshops wider program of providing learning opportunities not just in the sewing room but also the wood workshop. We are on the lookout for more people who are willing to tutor and support these classes. Its a great way to contribute toward your community.
Every job the MenShed team undertakes is special.
No matter how large or complex or small and straight forward the stuff wee make for community groups across the Upper Clutha makes a difference.
These trays for the Lions Club will be used to make things a little easier at events across our district.
The Tool Library is ready to go.
The MenShed team have spent the last few weeks assembling the shed and preparing the tools.
The Wanaka Community Workshop tool library will enable folk across Wanaka and the Upper Clutha to borrow tools for use at home. In this way we can avoid everybody have their own tools – tools which one may use only every now and again. Rather we can share and thus reduce costs for everyone.
Its a great idea.
Many of the tools have been donated to the Wanaka Community Workshop. Others have been purchased thanks to a grant from the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Look out for more information on when the Tool Library opens and how it will operate.
We get some unusual jobs at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
Volunteers working within our sewing room are busy creating a unicorn. When complete the beast will be part of the long running kids Christmas experience at Hawea.
The project has required some smart and innovative thinking. Who would have thought cricket leg pads would have a role in creating the head of a unicorn!
Hollywood here we come!
Over recent weeks the MenShed team have become prop makers for a range of school and community theatre productions. Works have included a ships mast complete with sails, four gondolas that would make Venice proud, various stages and the most recent; a stile that will be used in the upcoming production at the Lake Wanaka Centre.
We love the variety and the particular requirements for each of these items. Working with the director and stage manager has been great.
