Author: Erik Bradshaw

Correct email address The email address in the previous newsletter was incorrectly listed as a .net.nz address when it is really admin@mountainturk.nz. If your email got bounced please resend it. As you can imagine my email is a bit of a bomb site. I try and reply to everyone, but if you don't have a response please send it again or text/call me. Erik Bradshaw 027 241 8571 First Big Build weekend: Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th March. Work starts 8:30am on both days The Hangar 182 Arthurs Point Road Club finances There has been an amazing response since my last newsletter with club finances jumping from $700 to $65,000. This has allowed me to get cracking and buy material for the next 5 Turks. There is a lot of positive energy for the project and it is very rewarding to see it being enthusiastically adopted by others. It makes the long process of working thought consents, planning and design worthwhile. First Big Build weekend This coming weekend (7 & 8 March)...

Newsletter #13 - Fortune favours the bold The founding meeting of the Mountain Turk Club was a resounding success with 70 attendants and lively and worthwhile conversation. The evening started with a presentation of Turk history and how the design has evolved with experiences in New Zealand and Antarctica. Rob Wardle from QEII Trust explained the Mahu Whenua Covenants and the spirit in which they were formed. He also highlighted that involvement from the community is critical in defining the success of the covenants. Next we got into the serious business of establishing the club. The presentation I used can be found here: Presentation The minutes are here: Minutes The constitution (with many thanks to Anderson Lloyd) can be found here: Club constitution In summary, the following was unanimously decided: to form and incorporate the club with the following people appointed to the committee: Chairperson: Erik Bradshaw Treasurer: Zane Kerse Secretary: Mary Jowett Communications: Glenn Davis The exciting news (and hence the caption of this newsletter) is...

Installing Turks at Cape Adare for Antarctica NZ and Antarctic Heritage Trust. Borchgrevink's Hut at the left. Three Turks were installed in 8 hours with the help of the Chinese.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTKhIy6euyg Further to my last newsletter...if you want to read the Resource Consent you can find it here Mahu Whenua Turk Resource Consent Founding meeting of the Mountain Turk Club Wednesday 12 February 6:45 pm Queenstown Events Centre, Mezzanine Room Mountain Turk Founding Meeting Poster To keep the meeting focused I have come up with this basic agenda   7:00  pm  What is a Turk, history of Turks and experiences to date   7:20  The Mahu Whenua Traverse   7:30  The Mountain Turk Club - discussion about club values and function   7:55  Acceptance of constitution (requires 16 or more signatures) Appointment of committee   8:00  Explanation of how to build a Turk   8:15  Getting organised to build the Turks   8:50  Meeting wraps up. We need to be out of the Events Centre by 9pm Mount Turk Club constitution A club (under the Incorporated Society Act 1908) is required...

Above: Evening at the Crown Basin Turk with friends from Auckland. Five children aged from 7 to 14 who all slept inside while the parents used tents (hmm... that strange logic that all parents will understand!).     Public meeting and formation of the Mountain Turk Club Queenstown Events Centre – Mezzanine Room Wednesday 12th February 2020 7pm   (Doors open from 6:30) The goals of this meeting are: Establish the Mountain Turk Club Have a good chunky discussion about what we value and how we want the club to operate. Appoint the initial committee Get fired up about making 5 more Turks and getting them in before winter Resource consent approved You might have seen the good news already, but the Resource consent for the Mahu Whenua Turks has been approved! 6 Turks in total, 5 on the Mahu Whenua Traverse and the existing one in the Crown Basin. A huge thank you to Holly Gardiner of Boffa Miskell and Steve Skelton of Patch Landscape. I approached the Resource Consent...

Crown Basin Turk with Lake Wakatipu in the background. Photo from Steve Skelton of Patch Landscape for the Resource Consent visit. Plans for building the next 5 Turks While I wait for the Resource Consent to work its way across various desks I thought it time to get organised for this summer's construction activity. I'm optimistic that the consent process will be completed in the near future. Something that excites me a lot about this project is bringing people together to work on something of shared value - in the process new friendships will be made and opportunities uncovered. My emails currently have an audience of 400 people which is not too bad since I haven't done much to promote the project. According to the statistics in Mail Chimp the greatest collection of people is in Christchurch, then Queenstown/Wanaka, Invercargill and Dunedin. Earlier this year Arron Eades made the helicopter lift points for the Turks in Christchurch, the process worked very smoothly considering I...

I hope to have a response to the resource consent by mid-November. I also plan to organise the founding meeting for the club in mid to late November so we can get financial systems established and start building Turks again. With that done we can start building over the Christmas break (a good opportunity for out of town people to get involved) with a target install date of Easter 2020. Talk in Christchurch On the 12th December I am giving a talk at the Canterbury Westland Section of the NZ Alpine Club, this is open to anybody. Details: 12th December , 7:30 pm Oxford Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch  https://goo.gl/maps/ZT4TFv9eKEkiF68d8 Open to anybody so please come along Crown Basin Turk This has seen some good use over winter and spring. If you are interested in visiting look at the calendar http://mountainturk.org.nz/crow-basin-turk-bookings/ and email or text or call me and I will add you to the calendar. This approach will prevent having to share your...

26 people were at the Crown Basin Turk a couple of weekends ago. 22 of us skied from the Crown Saddle over Crown Peak as part of the Earth Sea Sky adventure tour and another 4 joined us by coming up from the Glencoe Station road. We didn’t all try and fit into the Turk at the same time! Latest News I’m giving a talk in Wanaka about Turks and the Mahu Whenua Traverse this Wednesday evening (ie tomorrow) to the Upper Clutha Tramping Club. This is open to everybody so please come along. Details:                 7:30pm Wednesday 11th September Wanaka Fire Station, Ballantyne Road Park on the road! The firestation is for fire trucks! It will be an interesting evening with the talk including the evolution of the Turks design, adventures installing them in the Antarctic, plans and progress for the Mahu Whenua Traverse which will connect Wanaka to Queenstown via the mountains. This is a good chance to get involved and work out what you...

Something of interest...the snippet above are a few of the calculations from the 6 page engineering reports prepared for each of the Turk sites. At the stormiest of locations the Turks are deigned to withstand winds over 300 km/h with a safety factor of 2. You can sleep well at night even if the tops are being blown off the surrounding mountains! Progress Saturday saw Katrina Gardiner, Leigh Halkett and Christine Ryan completing 3 of the mattresses, this task shouldn't be under valued because if done commercially this was the second most expensive Turk component after the tank itself. While they worked in the warm house Leif Christensen, Nigel Lloyd and David worked on the next Hollywood blockbuster titled "3 men and a toilet" which I have high hopes of a sequel this weekend. Ursula and Andrew Davis painted the exterior woodwork which has been sealed with epoxy resin but requires additional care to keep the UV out. Jenny Allen was appointed Turk...