Wastebusters is a Wanaka icon.
A place where items unwanted by some are purchased for re-use by others. Every now and then one can find a treasure – exactly what you are looking for.
An example recently was a dog kennel – picked up at Wastebusters for a new pet.
All that was needed was some repairs and a dog run.
Last week the team from the MenShed worked on the project.
Using recycled materials and a bit of sweat equity the kennel & run is now complete – a great home for a lucky dog.
The Wanaka Community Workshop regularly hosts visitors to our region.
Taking a break from cycling Emily took the opportunity to create a play space for her two year old – a fairy tree house.
“Its great to work with the MenShed team and create something special, with your hands”, said Emily.
She also came back and substantially completed a chopping board for the kitchen. It will be stored away for completion during her next visit.
The Wanaka Community Workshop is proving popular with visitors.
Over recent months the Workshop has hosted folk seeking to create, maintain or enhance accommodation facilities in their vans. They originate from around the world – South America, Australia, Europe and North America.
Following comments on social media sites and word of mouth visitors are attracted to Wanaka not only for great experiences but also to join the Workshop.
Generally shortly after the bare vans are purchased the visitors spend a week or two in Wanaka kitted out their van’s for subsequent travel throughout the country.
Our visitors bring great stories and often some great cuisine.
Prepared by Ian – He is a real trooper.
Attendance during normal Tuesday and Thursday sessions totaled 94. This represents about a 10% increase compared to the same period last year.
In addition to our normal MenShed sessions, thanks to Allan Harvey we had a MenShed presence at the Wanaka Community Workshop most days each week. Attendance totaled 23.
Members have been contacted with respect to their 2023 membership.
Gwilym is / has established a new database of members linked to the Workshop website.
“Business Contacts” and other non member contacts will continue to be held in the shared Google database.
Over this period the MenShed received donations of a range of timber, tools & equipment and construction hardware.
The Fabricate team at the Wanaka Community Workshop are well advanced in creating a Great Grebe.
Unlike the Grebes found on the Lake, this one can walk on land. Not so good at flying however!
The new costume is bound to be a feature at the upcoming Wanaka A&P Show. Perhaps a new icon for our District.
In any event our new Grebe is in great hands.
Learning about geko’s and skinks
@Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust Wanaka is part of the network of community groups serving the Upper Clutha. Te Kakano through working with agencies, groups and individuals across our district seeks to protect healthy ecosystems and community wellbeing for years to come.
A key element of Te Kakano’s efforts is focused upon education – especially education targeting children. This week the MenShed team completed a number of structures designed to safely house geko’s and skinks that also call the Upper Clutha home.
Many geko’s and skinks that live in our community are unique not just to New Zealand but this particular area.
Over the next few weeks WAI Wanaka in association with Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust Nursery will distribute the “Geko houses” to schools across the district for use in their environmental education program.
The team at the MenShed are proud to partner with Wai Wanaka and Te Kakano Nursery in designing and building what were quite complex little structures.
Thanks to everyone that supports the WCW, especially our amazing volunteers. The workshop and fabricate sewing room are used by volunteers to complete these projects, send us a message if you are interested in knowing more or joining up. The space can also be accessed for personal use with a membership. We have all the tools, and we save materials from the waste stream and store for projects. For a small annual membership you can access all this goodness.
Across the Upper Clutha thousands of traps are doing the business – helping to rid our district of pests such as stoats and rats.
Being located in the outdoors the traps endure a tough life.
Temperatures which fluctuate seasonally from 10-12 degrees below zero to 30 degrees above with long dry periods and periodic deluges can cause the best timber to warp.
From time to time the traps get smashed about in the back of utes and receive the odd knock from rocks and tree branches.
All this means that if traps are to remain active in our natural environment there is a need for a regular program of repair, maintenance and, where appropriate, upgrades.
The team at the MenShed are working with folk from the Southern Sanctuary and Wanaka Backyard Trapping on how best to tackle this issue.
Given the large number of new traps deployed in recent years this is an issue we need to resolve in a practical and effective way. We have a great team onto it.
Over the last year the MenShed team have built a number of lilliput libraries.
The small libraries are managed by staff of the Queenstown Lakes District Council from Wanaka Library. They can be found in Hawea, Luggate as well as Wanaka.
The latest to open is right outside the Wanaka Community Workshop in Gordon Road.
It’s convenient too – customers of John’s Coffee Cart, a well known and popular icon of Gordon Road, can access the books from their table!
We are proud to be part of the community establishing this network of small libraries across our district. Our team also love the books on offer!
This week the MenShed team commissioned a new machine at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
The new machine is a planer thicknessor – a presision tool which will permit the team to upcycle timber as well as improve the quality of our products.
The machine was purchased with a grant from the Queenstown Lakes District Council. The mobile base upon which it stands was purchased with a grant from the Wanaka Rotary Club.
We are fortunate to be part of a wider community so supportive of the Wanaka Community Workshop, its values and actions.
Thanks to Caleb, a visitor to Wanaka who is familiar with how to get the best out of the machine, we held our first training session for those who will use the new machine.
More training will follow as the first users try out what we expect to become a key capacity in our workshop.
The team at the MenShed are gearing up for the Wanaka A&P Show.
The Wanaka Community Workshop is sharing a stall with a range of environmental and community groups. Its great working together with groups who are also making a difference for our community.
For the stall the team are constructing easels to display signage that highlights what the groups are achieving. There will also be a range of items built or repaired by the workshop ranging from Grebe nesting platforms, educations and research equipment to traps for various pests.
Finally we have a few stencils – one of a human foot, the second of a bird foot – that will be used to create a path leading to the stall.
The Wanaka A&P Show is an iconic event for our community. Part of our rural community for many decades. We are proud to be involved.
Late last year the team at the MenShed built raised gardens at the pre school in Hawea.
The project was a joint affair with funding provided by Wanaka Rotary.
In their final days at school the kids planted out their new gardens. This week we received images of the success of their efforts.
What a great outcome!
The fabricate studio within the Wanaka Community Workshop is a busy place.
This week the years first learn the sew course commenced.
The course runs an evening a week for 5 weeks. The end result will be a shirt and the skills learnt that can be applied to any project.
This week the fabricate team commenced a community project – a pretty fancy suit depicting a famous Wanaka water bird.
Those attending the upcoming Wanaka A&P Show will be the first to see it!
Wheels at Wanaka is an all vehicle, all machinery history-in-motion vintage fair – including steam engines, tractors and farming heritage, cars, motor-bikes, trucks, earthmovers and heavy machinery.
While Wheels at Wanaka will not take place until April, the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop is already preparing their contribution to the event.
We are producing seven benches built from wooden pallets that would otherwise have been wasted. The benches will be located around the large site at stops served by the event shuttle bus.
Some of our members will also form part of the volunteer work force for the event.
Looking forward to it!
Every library reviews its holdings to make way for new books.
The Queenstown & Lakes Council’s library at Wanaka is no exception.
This week Paula from the Wanaka Library delivered to the Wanaka Community Workshop a selection of books eliminated from their collection of great interest to the MenShed team.
Each contains ideas of how we can utilise building materials in a range of community projects. Over the next few weeks we shall give a few of them a go.
The MenShed team has started the new year with a new project.
Riddling is a technique associated with our wine industry – in particular with the méthode Champenoise or traditional method of making Champagne.
Riddling is a process of periodically rotating a bottle a quarter of a turn while simultaneously tilting it until it’s upside down. This movement causes sediment accumulating inside the bottle to slide down to the neck where it can be removed.
Riddling requires a rack to store bottles – a rack that is designed to permit both turning the bottle but also tilting it to encourage the sediment to slide toward the neck of the bottle.
The rack looks simple but it is a clever design.
This year the team at the MenShed are rehabilitating riddling racks which have worn out over many years of use.
The work avoids the need to dump the racks and replace them.
We heard the outdoor play tables at the Kidsfirst kindergarten Hawea needed some love and attention.
Stu, one of our MenShed team who lives locally, picked the tables up and delivered them to the Wanaka Community Workshop.
Using donated materials it was a quick task to create and attached new tops on each of the three tables.
The play tables are now back in service – a few more years life yet despite the demanding use to which they are put by our growing kids.
Folk at the Wanaka Community Workshop took time out this week to get together in the spirit of Christmas.
Its great to get together with some great kai.
Time also to talk through what we have working together accomplished this year.
While a number of the team will be away over the next few weeks, most will be working through. The team gets together at the Workshop every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to midday.
Traps are regularly manufactured by the MenShed team operating from the Wanaka Community Workshop.
This is not surprising given the importance of maintaining and enhancing the habitats across the natural environment of the Upper Clutha.
We build and supply traps that meet the demanding requirements Department of Conservation which target stoats and other pests.
We also build rat traps.
Our traps are now deployed across our district – from peoples backyards to remote spots high in our National Parks.
This week the MenShed team are working on another batch designed for DOC 200 traps.
Our team are proud to see their traps out and about making a difference for our endangered wildlife in our local environment.
We receive some odd requests at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
This week the MenShed team crafted a foot – a stencil of the outline of a foot to be precise.
The stencil is to be used to mark a track on the ground running through a busy community market place leading to a particular stall.
We tested the stencil in the yard outside the Workshop. It worked a treat.
Wanaka is a great community – a strong and supportive community.
The MenShed team experiences evidence of the strength of the Wanaka community each week.
We welcome donations of construction materials, hardware, and tools – all of which we use to support the Workshop’s own contribution to the local community.
This week was no exception – we received tools and an array of hardware. They were put to immediate use in completing raised gardens for use by kids at one of our local pre-schools.
Our community in action.
Over recent weeks our community across the Upper Clutha have enjoyed a new service – a community shuttle bus service serving Lake Hawea, Hawea Flat, Albertown and Wanaka.
The shuttle bus service is a great initiative led by Community Network Wanaka / Link Upper Clutha.
The service is currently a trial – a trial to see what the demand is should a permanent service be undertaken.
A couple of our MenShed team observed that folk waiting for the bus were standing around.
We thought we could do something about that.
In response the MenShed team have designed and built wooden benches we have placed at some of the bus stops.
The benches were built from pallets collected from local firms which would have otherwise gone to waste.
Its a simple practical and useful use of up cycled materials which will make life just a little more comfortable for the users of the Community Shuttle Bus trial.
Every so often the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop get handed a challenge.
This week the challenge came in the form of a stool – a stool passed down by a family’s grandmother and looking for some damage repair.
A foot was broken, chipped with peices missing.
A furniture maker and wood craftsman who helped out at the recent Wastebuster Repair Event held at the Workshop did the job.
The MenShed team re-assembled the stool, smoothed the rough edges and delivered it back to a happy family.
A great job all round.
This month Wastebusters held their Sustainable Christmas Market at their Wanaka facility.
The team from the Wanaka Community Workshop created a stall – our first for any market.
We had for sale a range products created from upcycled textiles and construction materials.
Corn Hole Game Boards & throw bags, salad servers & cloth, large and small wooden crates, bike stands and insect hotels proved popular.
It was a great day.
Wastebusters is organisation that makes a strong positive difference for our community across the Upper Clutha.
Its great the teams from across the two organisations work together. We very much appreciate their leadership.
The Wanaka Community Workshop hosts MINT each month.
MINT supports those in Upper Clutha Area with intellectual disabilities.
This month the MINT team started on their largest project at the Workshop – two Corn Hole Game Boards and eight cloth bags with which to play.
The Boards are being built with the support of the MenShed, the cloth bags with the support of the fabrication team.
The aim is to complete the project over two visits – in time for the MINT Christmas Party.
The Wanaka Community Workshop welcomes donations of wood and construction materials.
The MenShed Team use the material to create products which support the local community.
Some of this material is large. Some is small – just off-cuts.
This week the team have been focusing re-using the off-cuts.
We have been building a range of wooden box’s, crates and salad servers.
They will be available at the upcoming Sustainability Market to be held at Wanaka Wastebusters in late November. The funds raised will go toward maintaining equipment within the Workshop.
MINT is an organisation which works with members of our community who have intellectual difficulties.
Every month the MenShed team operating from the Wanaka Community Workshop hosts a visit from MINT. The visit is part of a comprehensive program developed by MINT.
For each visit the MenShed team fabricate a project for our visitors to assemble and finish off. Something that each person can take home.
This month we had a largest number of visitors so far.
Some built planter box’s, others built tool box’s – some built both!
Its great to be part of the MINT program.
This week the Wanaka Community Workshop hosted the Wanaka Repair Event.
The Repair Event was organised and delivered by Wanaka Wastebusters.
The Wanaka Repair Event was one of four similar events that Wanaka Wastebusters have organised across the district.
The Event bought together volunteers who repaired clothing, electrical and electronic goods, bicycles and furniture.
Local volunteers joined others who came from from Queenstown. Some were young and experienced, others old and experienced.
Together they worked to repair items bought in on the day by Wanaka residents.
The Repair Revolution is a great concept. Great for the planet, great for the individual owner.
The Repair Revolution is organised and run by the great team at Whastebusters.
The Wanaka Community Workshop is proud to contribute.
This week the MenShed team hosted a film crew.
The crew were at the Wanaka Community Workshop preparing a video for BREEN Construction.
With their head office in Alexandra BREEN Construction has been a leader of the construction industry across the Upper Clutha since 1939.
Part of that leadership focuses upon minimising construction waste.
The film crew’s video will be used to raise awareness among staff at BREEN Construction as to what each can do to reduce waste.
Its great the Wanaka Community Workshop can contribute to this initiative.
This week Gerald and Jim Bob completed one of the largest projects undertaken by the MenShed team.
Six Dog Boxes.
The Dog Box’s will house dogs that are deployed to manage a range of animal pests across our region.
Each has been built from materials that would have otherwise gone to waste.
Great stuff Gerald and Jim Bob!
This week Wanaka has hosted the WAO Summit as part of the 2022 Festival for Sustaintability.
The Wanaka Community Workshop was an active participant in the Festival.
The Workshop hosted a cycle maintenance event early in October.
During the Summit the Workshop hosted a session focussed upon reducing waste resulting from construction.
Members of the MenShed built a board for a display by the Queenstown Lakes District Council at the Summit. The board was a specially designed version of a corn hole game board – a design which highlighted means we can all adopt to reduce carbon emissions.
Finally members shared their experience and learnings thus far. The Wanaka Community Workshop is new – it has existed for around 18 months.
It’s great to be part of this initiative. Sharing the experience of others working across our community is both beneficial and uplifting.
Every so often folk drop into the Wanaka Community Workshop seeking that something be repaired.
Recently the team from the MenShed completed a stand for a peice of garden art.
It was an important peice, designed and built by their late Dad.
It’s great having the opportunity to make a difference.
A three month trial of a community bus service linking Wanaka, Albert Town Hawea Flat and Lake Hawea is underway.
The trial has been developed by Community Networks / LINK.
This week the Team at the MenShed operating from the Wanaka Community Workshop received a call for help. Could we construct a light but strong and stable stool in order to make it easier for folk to step up into the bus.
The community bus service is a great concept. We were delighted to assist.
During this month the Wanaka Community Workshop hosted a couple of training sessions. Each session attracted people in search of advice on how best to maintain their bikes.
The sessions were part of a much larger Biketober program of events which run right through the month of October.
Biketober is managed and deployed by WAO Wanaka as part of their work to protect healthy ecosystems and community wellbeing.
The particular focus of Biketober is to promote greater use of cycles for transport and recreation.
Its great to see community groups such as WAO Wanaka and the Wanaka Community Workshop collaborate to make a difference for our community.
Pact is a Otago based agency supporting people to lead fulfilling lives in the community.
In our district Pact supports over 300 adults and youth with intellectual disabilities, mental health issues and young people referred from Oranga Tamariki.
Recently the MenShed team hosted our first visit from Pact that included support people along with those whom they work with.
The visit focused on building a wooden toolbox to take home.
Its great to experience community groups working together.
fabricate is up and running at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
fabricate is all about textiles and sewing.
Program’s to teach sewing and pattern making skills has commenced. More are planned.
Members of our community are are dropping in to undertake their own work and repairs.
Its great to see people learning new skills – taking the opportunity offered by the team of fabricate at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
The Wanaka Community Workshop provides a range of opportunities for our local community.
This includes travelers who pass through our town and region.
Recent projects undertaken by the MenShed team have benefited from the time and skills of visitors from France.
As members of the Workshop during their period in Wanaka our visitors took the opportunity to use equipment and tools to improve their motor home.
We loved having them drop in.
Over the last month the MenShed completed a few projects for the Montessori Childrens House in Wanaka.
The projects included a table for kids to practice their wood working skills, a cupboard in which to store their wood working tools and finally, a table upon which they can grow plants and seedlings.
This week Montessori returned the favour – some great, and I mean great, sausage rolls and scones for the team at morning tea.
Greatly appreciated. Thank you Montessori.
Recently the team at the MenShed completed a work table for the kids at Montessori Childrens House – a pre school in Wanaka.
This week a small cupboard was delivered by the team.
Mounted on wheels for easy moving about, the cupboard will store the tools the kids can use on the work table.
Its great to see the kids enjoy their new gear.
Future craftspeople in action!
With school holidays the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop this week hosted a holiday program organised by Kahu Youth.
We loved having them.
Everyone took away a simple planter box they built from recycled materials.
A few lessons were learnt and many took home a little paint – on their clothes.
Grow Wanaka has created vibrant educational hub at their community garden where folk can learn, connect and grow
The community garden is located on Outlet Road, Wanaka – just above the Clutha River.
Community Networks food security project operating from the Wanaka Community Hub have led the development of food banks and food exchanges across the Upper Clutha.
The team from the MenShed have built a number of food bank’s which are now dotted about our community.
The latest has been placed at the Grow Wanaka community garden.
Its great working in collaboration with Community Networks and Grow Wanaka to make a difference in our community.
Over recent weeks the team at the MenShed has designed and built two tables for the MINT Trust.
The tables can be adjusted – the tops can be raised or lowered. The tops can also be set at an angle making them suitable for drawing or painting.
Construction of the tables has involved fine wood work as well as metal work.
During their regular monthly visit to the Wanaka Community Workshop members of MINT helped with final sanding and smoothing of each table.
The new tables will make life a little easier at MINT.
Skinks and geckos are lizards – the only two native families of lizard found in New Zealand.
Our skink and gecko species have been around a long time – at least 20 million years. They occur only in New Zealand. Some species are restricted to habitats found only in Otago.
As these habitats change, our skinks and gecko’s are threatened.
This week the team at the MenShed have been finalising the design of a prototype home to aid our lizards.
It will offer a living space safe from predators.
The design will be trialed in our region to determine whether it can make a positive contribution to the future of our local reptiles.
Wanaka is a great community.
This week members of our community invested their support for the Wanaka Community Workshop by donating machinery.
In turn the machinery will be used by the Workshop to support the Wanaka community
Our scroll saw has seen great service with its previous owner. Over the last decade over 4000 wooden jigsaws were created with it.
These jigsaws are serving in pre schools the length of New Zealand.
The team of the MenShed trust they can do the new kit proud.
We also received a second saw this week – this time a drop saw along with a adjustable table to ease its operation.
Great for our projects we need to work on outdoors, away from the workshop.
As with all our machinery they will be checked for safety and then made available for use by our team at the Workshop.
The MenShed team operating from the Wanaka Community Workshop love making things.
That said the team also enjoy each other company. Mostly this takes place over a cup of tea of coffee at the Workshop.
From time to time we also get out.
This month we had a picnic with the Friends of Bullock Creek.
As usual lots of discussion.
This time our focus was on what we can do to protect the lake and stream waters from sedimentation resulting from urban development.
It’s a big issue.
That aside its good for each of us to get out and spend some time with others.
The Upper Clutha is home to an amazing array of insects. Many are unique reflecting our dry and alpine environments.
Iconic among New Zealand insects is the Weta.
Species of Weta are found among our highest alpine peaks down to forests along the shores of our lakes.
Recently the team at the MenShed have been fabricating safe homes or refuges for tree weta from recycled materials – material which would have otherwise been dumped.
Furthermore each is designed to enable kids (and adults) to see and check how the Weta are progressing.
A great initiative to promote awareness and interest in the insect world.
This week our first weta homes were assembled during the monthly visit to the Wanaka Community Workshop by MINT.
MINT is a community agency that supports those in our community, right across the upper Clutha area with intellectual disabilities.
I am sure the weta will appreciate their work
This month Di dropped in to give the team at the MenShed a hand.
She joined JimBob in creating a small table – a table for kids to try out their woodworking skills. A table upon which a hammer may be used, a saw or a screwdriver.
Thanks to JimBob, the design of the table is simple and sturdy.
The materials are all recycled. Without the Wanaka Community Workshop they would otherwise have been dumped.
Its great to support the interest of children in woodworking. Encouraging an early interest in building and re-use is something we can all be proud of.
Its great to experience what the Friends of Bullock Creek have established over the years.
The restoration of the natural environment and the development of of walkways and informative signage is a joy.
The Friends are more than this however.
The Friends act as guardians to ensure the natural waters of Bullock Creek and our Lake are protected and enhanced. For this future generations will thank the Friends of Bullock Creek.
The team at the MenShed this week completed a second batch of timber for the Friends of Bullock Creek. The timber has been used further extend the boardwalk.
You owe it to yourself – get up and have a look at what the Friends of Bullock Creek are creating. Join them and make a difference.
Wanaka Backyard Trapping is a community organisation all about giving the local native wildlife a hand. They do this by enabling residents across the Upper Clutha to trap predators in their backyards.
Wanaka Backyard Trapping manages a trap library. People can borrow for free traps from the library to target rats, stoats and other predators that threaten our endangered wildlife.
The trap library is hosted at the Wanaka Community Workshop. The library is easy to find. Its located right out front of the Workshop on Gordon Road.
While the MenShed team built the library it is managed day to day by Wanaka Backyard Trapping.
Until recently all the traps were out and about in backyards across the Upper Clutha. A few are now back – contact Wanaka Backyard Trapping to pick one up.
Together we can make a difference for the wildlife across all our backyards.
The Winter snows abound on the hills and mountains above Wanaka. Its great to see large numbers of visitors back in town.
It’s not only visitors who ski but locals as well. This includes supporters of the Wanaka Community Workshop.
While we are known for working with wood and soon textiles, we do have other capabilities.
Emily was keen to wax her snow boards. We found the necessary kit at the back of our storage room. Twenty minutes later job done!
fabricate is located within the Wanaka Community Workshop. Fabricate is providing opportunities for members of the community to learn skills associated with textiles and clothing.
Its early days for fabricate and final fitting out of the workspace is underway.
The team from the MenShed right next door is helping out.
This month desks have been built for newly arrived sewing machines.
Shelving has also been built and installed to store within easy reach cloth and textiles which continue to flow in from community donations.
The donations will make a real difference for those learning new skills. Its also a great way to use, upcycle and recycle materials.