Annual Meeting
This year we have decided to do something a little different. As mentioned in previous newsletters the club is building 5 high quality, glamorous toilets on the Mahu Whenua Covenant as a way of contributing back to the conservation area. For the Annual Meeting we will install one at Bracken Saddle!
This will be a good social affair because only so many people can dig the hole at the same time! Expect some good story telling while you watch somebody else work.
The timing for the day is as follows Saturday 10 June 2023:
- 8 am depart from the car park of Tobins track in Arrowtown (or 8.30 am from Glencoe Station road)
- 9.30 am we should be up at Bracken Saddle and the digging starts
- 11:45 am hopefully the shoulder deep hole will be dug, the toilet in position and anchored in place. We then head back down to the Fork and Tap.
- 1pm Beer and pizza at the Fork and Tap. We will keep the “necessary” part of the Annual Meeting as efficient as possible.
This will be a fun day and a great contribution to the community. I’m sure a toilet at Bracken saddle will be appreciated by many. It is also a good opportunity to get kids involved.
Fork and Tap
Saturday 10 June 2023 1pm
Notice of Annual Meeting:
https://mountainturk.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MTC-AGM-2023-Notice-of-AGM.pdf
Year-end 2023 financial:
https://mountainturk.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MTC-Final-AA-2023.pdf
Operating Manual:
https://mountainturk.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MTC-Operating-manual-2023-v1.pdf
Proxy vote form:
https://mountainturk.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MTC-AGM-2023-Proxy-Vote.docx
What is a Turk?
Watch this video to get an idea of what it is all about:
Welcome to the home of the Mountain Turk Club
The goal of this club is to build, install and manage Turks in mountain environments of New Zealand.
A Turk (tank hut) is a lightweight, helicopter flyable mountain hut based on a large plastic water tank. Creative interior design combined with the circular shape results in a highly efficient and relaxing space that is safe in even the most extreme of storms. The name derives from the saying “Not a hut and not a yurt, not a tank so must be a Turk”. About Turks
The club currently has 6 Turks in the mountains between Wanaka and Queenstown. There is no restriction in being involved, however to use the huts you need to be a member of the club – see Club Membership requirements here.
The first 5 of these Turk form the Mahu Whenua Traverse or look at a map. You can read About Erik and some Turk history to help understand what is going on here.
If you’re already a member and want to stay at a Turk, make a booking here..
Get involved register for emails. This is the primary method of club communication.
The Mountain Turk Club Privacy Policy can be found here
Very cool Erik, great initiative.
Hi Erik, looking forward to hearing updates.
Dear Erik, my wife Sally Widdowson and I have just joined MTC. (Our friend Zane Kerse sent us updates on the project.) Based up at Christchurch and Cass not sure when we will be able to use the huts but think they are such a great idea! In March we were in Canada and did the Wapta traverse. We had a night in the new Guy hut–An amazing hut but it must have cost a gazillion $ . It had triple glazing and incredible insulation and needed no heating even when it dropped to -20 at night. It has wind, solar and propane power. It has no water source so is closed in the summer!
Let us know if you have any proposed Turk sites up in Canterbury we could help with. The one place that really needs one is in the Murchison at Mt. Cook. Doing trips like Classen Saddle or the Aida Glacier are long days from Kelman Hut these days.
Good luck with beating the lockdowns before winter. Paul and Sally
The March 2020 edition of FMCNZ Bulletin, Backcountry, has a mouthwatering article about Turks and the Manua Whenua traverse. What a dream of an idea and what a dream traverse to do. Hint, hint. If you ever there is an opportunity to do this and have room in your party my hand is up.
After COVID the world is going to have to be very different. A timely rejig of everyone’s ideas about what matters most in life. And Manua Whenua traverse has to be right up there as an example of the new reality. Simple, in touch with nature, healthy, egalitarian and home based. Congratulations. Stuart Tiller. Auckland.