All over the country, people are moving houses. - Watch that truck, eh? (TRUCK HORN HONKS) - Wow, this is getting tight now. - Can you swim? - (LAUGHS) From old villas... to modern homes... and even historic churches,... - Oh, good work there, Clarke. - Like a glove. ...they're giving new life to buildings and structures that once faced destruction. (TRUCK ENGINE REVS) - Front wheels are skidding. - Whoa! Oh! - (BLEEP)! - There's no obstacle too big... (SAW BUZZES) - I only need a millimetre. - ...and no challenge too great... - Up a little bit on the hook, Don. - ...for the people who take this on. - Starting to get very ugly down this hill. - Hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa! - Whoo! - (HORN TOOTS) - How far would you go to match your ideal house to the location of your dreams? (INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC) This time on Moving Houses ` - It was literally falling apart, and we just had to do something about it. - It might look like a classroom, but it's on its way to becoming the solution to a community's problem. - We talked about renovation, and we thought, no, it's just impossible. - But their dream depends on the path of an impending tropical cyclone... Oh dear. We're got a tree down. This is getting outrageous! ...and 400km of one of the most notorious stretches of roading in the country. - We're in for a hell of a night, aren't we? - Whoo! This is gonna be tight. So come along for the ride. This is Moving Houses. Right now we're on the outskirts of my hometown, Tairawhiti, Gisborne. And people have always told me how remote it is here. But I tell you, it is nothing on where we're headed, down Highway 35, to a tiny community that are after not just a new home, but a very special building to help them rejuvenate their small community. I'm driving to the marae two hours north of Gisborne, and, boy, what a stunning drive it is! But it's notorious for flooding and slips in bad weather. Sometimes settlements up on the East Cape can be completely cut off, so it is a high-risk route, even for my dad's trusty old ute here, let alone a heavy haulage truck carrying a house. I'm here at the marae to meet the people who have a dream to rejuvenate this community hub. Currently, the two fairly dilapidated buildings on the site are over 70 years old. A third building, the wharekai or dining hall, used to sit right here. It was so rundown, it's already been demolished, so they need a new one. - The windows were falling apart. We were sitting and having dinner in the dining room, and you could see the Moon, or see the sky. It was literally falling apart, and we just had to do something about it. - Along with her two cousins, Dick and Adrienne, Katerina is taking on the challenge of finding a replacement for the old dining hall. - You know, we thought we're gonna get rid of the building, and then we're gonna rebuild. Well, we realised that it's gonna take an arm and a leg to do this. - With a new build out of the question, they started researching house-moving companies. - Then Dick had a brilliant idea. He said, 'Go in on to your computer and look up Brittons, 'you know, there's this hall down there I wanna go and have a look at,' sort of thing. And we never really considered that, you know. So we did, and, gee, it just seemed so exciting to see how you could get a... a decent building at such low cost. - There's now a real sense of urgency with the old building gone. The place has sort of lost a bit of its heart and its reason for people to gather. And so having the new building in place will not only be really important for local community members, but it might also finally be that reason for extended whanau and family further afield to come home. The marae sits on 2 acres of stunning East Coast farmland. Now Adrienne, Dick and Katerina have found an ex-classroom block to relocate here. That could be the perfect solution to feeding the community. Today they're showing me the exact spot the new dining hall, which will be named Mahiti, after the old building, will sit. So obviously, this was your wharekai ` it's no longer here. What have you been doing in the meantime? - (SIGHS) Waiting for the house. - Waiting for the house? - (LAUGHTER) - Wondering where do we eat? That sort of stuff? - We just had some really, really, really good celebrations here ` 21sts, anniversaries, lots of singing. It was difficult to let go ` let go of the past. And moving forward, we're hoping to open the door to having more celebrating, more events and more whanau to come home. - And so you guys have got a budget for this project? - Is it something like half a million? - Yeah, about $580,000. That figure has come about with all the costs ` the cost of the building, the cost of the contractors and all that. - So what is the plan from here? I'll tell you ` I've been on a few of those roads, but I'm not sure if I've seen one as narrow as the last, uh, few K's up this road here. - Yeah, I'll bring my chainsaw along for the last day, but, hopefully, we've done everything we can. - With the building's relocation imminent, the weather will play a pivotal role in its safe arrival. You've had a lot of rain here; there were slips on the road. It's raining again now ` I mean, are those sort of things a worry? - Yes. But I'm glad we've still got another week to go. I'm sure ` well, hopefully ` that this will all blow over by then. - The three cousins found their new dining hall at the Brittons saleyard in Hastings, nearly 400km away. A former classroom block built in the 1990s, it has a solid timber exterior and is an excellent nick. But Adrienne hasn't seen it up close until today. And so, Adrienne, this is the first time you've seen this? - Yeah. - What do you reckon? - Oh, well, gee, it looks bigger in person than it does in... online. - Built for hard wear and tear on the schoolyard, the old classroom has been made to last, with aluminium joinery and a steel roof that will stand the test of time. (HOPEFUL MUSIC) - We're gonna have many, many... events here. Yeah. - A lot of that emotion comes from the significance, uh, and importance of the old building and what that meant to you, and knowing the important role that this building's gonna have. - Yeah, all the whanau that gathered there for many, many years. - It's their dream too. - Yeah. - It's their dream that's coming to fruition. We're really happy to be able to carry that out. Yeah. - Are you gonna keep this the same colour, do you think, or...? - The colours at the moment is fine. - Mm. It's OK. Yeah. - It's come to us with a blank canvas, and we can, actually, fill that canvas up to our needs. - Yeah. I can't wait to get inside of the fulla and talk about some of your plans. - Love to see the inside and stuff, yeah. - # Tipuna e, # e whare e tu mai nei e, # pupuri ona... # - I think that's what it is ` it's about regaining what we had. We know that a building has a certain life ` it's going to die, but this is going to resurrect what we had in the past. - The large open-plan area has a basic kitchen and two offices at one end, and a large workspace and a smaller one at the other. Katerina, Adrian and Dick plan to open it up by knocking down the internal walls, to transform the space into a large dining room, and a kitchen that can cater for upwards of a hundred people. - The vision is to try and have 50 seated and an indoor-outdoor flow, so we utilise the whole thing. - This end here will be the tables, the dining room and our Karuwai, the marae at that end. - OK. - Yeah. - Very good. - So we've got the white fence out there. - Yeah. I mean, so when this is all finished, it's gonna look nothing like it does now, right? - No. It's going to be one big open space, with the kitchen here. It's gonna be covered in on this side, yeah. - And we're putting double doors in that side? - Yeah, they'll be double doors. - Yeah. We're gonna open that area, that side up. - I like this, cos you guys are still deciding things, right? (CHUCKLES) But, again, I guess these are ideas that you then have to take back to the committee and wider whanau and go, 'Hey, what do you reckon? For me, this is starting to make sense. The open-plan design will allow them to strip the classroom back to a shell, which they can then push and pull in other directions. (DYNAMIC MUSIC) - It needs to be adaptable. So you might have a little function, or you might have a function where you require the whole place. - You see the trusses here which are integral to the strength of the building. - Yes, very much so. - And it's also the reason why the roof's staying on for the move, isn't it? - Mm. - Let's hope that some of those power lines don't get too saggy. - Yeah. - Should we have a look down here? Cos I think there's a few hints as to what this building used to be. The building is in great condition throughout. It's obvious the ex-classroom was well loved by its previous inhabitants. - It'd be good to just, sort of, retain just a piece of the past to this building somewhere. It's not in the plan, but we'll fit it. - Those are the ideas that come out of all this stuff. - Yeah, yeah, once you see it, eh? Yeah. - So it seems like the plan's a living document. - BOTH: Yeah. - Yes, very much so. - Whose fault is it if I come back and none of the work's happened? - (LAUGHS) - That'll be another story. - OK. - BOTH: Yeah. - (LAUGHS) - I'm actually really pleased that I've had a chance to, um, come and go through the building with the family members, who are gonna make the next part of this journey possible. What looks, at first blush, like an old classroom in need of a bit of TLC suddenly, sort of, takes on a whole new emotional significance, when you can see clearly how much it means to them. But now we've just gotta get it all the way there. Where to from here, New Zealand? To amazing places, places of opportunity, technology, possibility, sustainability, every ability, places that are for all to enjoy ` yeah, everyone. Let's enjoy the path forged by those that came before us but also find new ones, maybe better ones. Life is our journey. Aotearoa ` our magnificent waka. One week until the new dining hall arrives, and it's an exciting time for the community of Karuwai Marae. But we've still got a building that's a long way away, down an extremely dangerous stretch of road. It's the main highway that connects this beautiful slice of the East Cape, but it's prone to extreme flooding and road closures. You know, of a 400km journey, it's actually gonna be these last few K's that are going to be the most problematic. This road gets so incredibly narrow, and we don't have the luxury of cutting the building in half. But that's not the only obstacle ` it has been absolutely hosing down here for the last week. There's surface flooding everywhere, and with flooding comes slips. If the weather packs in, this is going to be a very risky ride. Luckily, the man responsible for the move knows all about the difficulties of East Coast driving, which came in handy when the cousins were picking their building. - It's quite a challenging road up there, so this building's a little bit narrower than the original building that they were looking to purchase. And once we'd measured the highway up there, we settled for this slightly narrower building. - They came here with one building in mind, but it was actually the road that dictated what they could take? - Correct. Yeah. At the end of the day, it needs to turn up as a building, not a box of matchsticks. We can chop them in half, of course, but some buildings don't lean towards that. It's got a trussed roof, so just all sorts of things say that this won't be chopped. - We'll be turning off the main highway for things like low rail bridges, which means detours with a lot of trees, narrow roads and slips near the rivers. As a kid, driving to the Hawke's Bay from Gisborne, it was always about the Devil's Elbow, the big, sort of, the key corner that you look forward to. Is that actually a problem? - The corner itself is quite wide. The hill itself can be a little bit challenging at times as you get a bit longer. - We've covered about 368 of those kilometres, but it's the last 12 where things get a little bit gnarly. - Mm. Yes, it does. I'm yet to go back and check the last little shingle road. So I gave Dick and the family, um, a big list of jobs when I was last here, and they tell me they've got through those jobs, so... And if they haven't, well, we'll help them on some of those jobs on arrival, I guess. - Right. - Yeah. - But you're not gonna have another chance to go that road before we head off. - No, I won't know. No. So we'll just do it on the day, on arrival. Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Got a few chainsaws in the back. - Yeah, we've got chainsaws. Yep. (CHUCKLES) Yep. - Am I allowed to use your chainsaw? - Yes. - Good. - (BOTH LAUGH) - Famous last words, Elwyn. With just 24 hours to go, the Britton's team are rolling into the yard, to prep the new wharekai for its long journey home. It's just small enough to be trucked in one piece, which will save the team time cutting and splitting it, so it's a pretty simple lift, lock and load. Tonight's route takes us the back way, towards Gisborne, around the infamous twists and turns of the Napier-Wairoa Road. We'll then wind our way inland at Wairoa, to avoid a series of low rail bridges ` truck on through to Gisborne, where we'll park up for the night. The next leg is 150km along the notoriously unstable Highway 35, to Tikitiki at the top of the East Cape. The final 12km might be crunch time ` it's all shingle. The Britton's crew have a 400km journey ahead, and with ominous clouds on the horizon, they're not wasting any time. - Yeah, another 20 minutes, 15 minutes. Yep. - Long-time team member Dion is going to be at the wheel of the big rig tomorrow night. - My theory is if you tie the building, we can go faster. - The trailer is positioned to take the weight of the building, and wooden blocks are placed to maintain tension. It's not a big load for these guys, but with two nights of risky East Coast driving ahead, there has to be no room for error. It's moving day, but the forecast has changed, and it's looking dire. So, this is it, the start of our two-night journey up the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. And, well, weather-wise, things couldn't be much worse right now. There's actually a cyclone sitting over us at one end of the island ` the Auckland Harbour Bridge, well, that's been closed. At the other end, Wellington's experiencing slips and flooding, and we're gonna do our best to try and get as far as we can down the coast, before the forecast wind and rain arrives, and by the look at these clouds rolling in, that's not gonna be much longer. The approaching cyclone also means Elwyn's making some last-minute changes. We're still on that original plan, though? - Pretty much ` think we'll just try and go as far as we can, eh, D? - Yeah. - Aim for Tolaga instead of Gisborne; try and go a little bit further. - We're gonna go through Gisborne all the way to Tolaga? - That's what we're hoping for. - We'll see what the weather does to us, eh? - Yeah. That's ambitious. No, that's brings up a good point, cos obviously the wind's started. I can feel the rain's started, and there's quite a bit in the forecast? - Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, look, you know, it's been a rough weekend, sort of, around the country. So, um, we don't really know what we're gonna face up the Tiniroto Road and that. So... - Is there such thing as too much wind ` like, we have to pull over if it gets too bad? - Look, it'd have to be pretty bad. It's gotta be Category 5. We'll know if it gets too windy. - OK. - You know, we'll talk about it as we go. - There's a lot riding on this precious cargo for the community of Karuwai Marae. And Elwyn's keen to get on the road. - You got your load, mate, and your passengers? - Yeah, we've got passengers, mate. We're just turning the mood lighting on. - (LAUGHS) - Oh nice. Lighting a few candles. Nice. - (BOTH CHUCKLE) - We're really setting the mood here. I'm grateful for the laugh. It's not every day we're about to ride with a cyclone on our tail. (TRUCK HORN HONKS) And so off we go, slightly later than the, um, desired time of 8 o'clock ` a few last-minute things to get sorted. And that can sometimes have a ripple effect, but, um, hopefully we'll be making up time as we go ahead. She's a moody-looking sky. We're trying to get ahead of the cyclone and well over halfway tonight to Tolaga Bay. But knowing the condition of roading ahead, it feels ambitious. - There's probably over a metre and a half left and right. - The poor weather forecast means Dion is going to rely heavily on the eyes and ears of the pilot vehicles. When was the last time you did that back road into Gisborne? - Oh, yeah, couple of years ago, easy. - Yeah, right. A lot can happen in a couple of years. So, here we go past the Napier-Taupo turnoff ` nothing but the East Coast ahead. But as soon as we hit the first bend after the turnoff, the road squeezes in on us. Oh dear. Look, a tree down. - Whoa. We're in for a hell of a night, aren't we? Whoo! (BEEP!) - We're just over two hours into our two-night journey to Karuwai Marae, and the debris from the cyclone is already slowing us down. - RT: Up on your right side, a bit. - We've just came the corner and found a tree's down. - This side's still under half a metre now. - (STATIC HISSES) - A silver birch or something that's come over. - If that's while we're only five minutes out of town, what's the rest of the night gonna be like? - Yeah. - Huh! - We clear the birch, but we're still crawling one foot at a time. Dion's relying on the pilot cars front and rear, but the poor visibility from the cyclone isn't helping. - RT: A bit more. - Oh, I'll just push these signs over. - Dion's just had to jump out of the truck. He's not happy with the width that the signs have created, so I think he's gonna go and take them out himself. The road is pretty scoured and gets extremely tight in places. Dion's not taking any chances with this precious load. (TENSE MUSIC) We're back on the road as quick as we can, but we're only just back up to speed when we hit our next challenge. The Devil's Elbow is a notoriously tight hairpin, with a steep incline on the far side; dramatic by day, but tonight it's dark and stormy. There's a few branches and things down through here, isn't there? So as we come down on to Devil's Elbow, there is evidence everywhere of the heavy rainfall they've had through here. There's small slips, rocks down on the road, tree branches... sticking out at funny angles, and we haven't even been round the elbow yet. This isn't a night you'd wanna go out driving, even in your own car. Dion's taking it carefully. No one wants to get stuck on the Devil's Elbow on a night like this. - RT: Just hold there. Down the bottom, there's a B-train up here. You'll end up in the trees. - There's a what? - A B-train truck trailer. - Oh right. - Yeah, well, he's having trouble getting it into gear. - One of the pilot drivers is a few hundred metres ahead. There's a broken-down truck at the top of the elbow. - He can't get it to take off. That's what I'm saying. He's right on the fork wrong, and you've got all the trees opposite. - With a hazard of the truck ahead, the hairpin bend of the elbow and the bad weather, Dion's dropping his speed right down. - Up on your left, bro. - Are those our wheels skidding out? - Yeah. - We're losing traction? - We're losing traction, yeah. Yeah. If I'd planted it, we would have, yeah, lost it. - Bearing on your right. - So we're currently losing traction, having come round the Devil's Elbow, and just trying to get enough power and speed and steam to, uh... to carry on. And all the while, dodging all of the trees and branches, many of which seem to be leaning right over, because of the storm. And on top of all that, we've now got a broken-down truck that we've, somehow, gotta find our way around. Whoo! This is gonna be tight. Oh man. There's just inches in it, and the pilots are on the ground. One wrong move here, and we'll have two trucks stuck. It's an unfortunate place for a truck to break down. If this load had been a metre wider, I don't think we would have made it. - RT: Looking good. - Finally, we're past. I realise I've been holding my breath. We're on a roll. - (LAUGHS) - But there's no such thing as an easy drive on the East Coast. The crazy thing about the pace we're going at and the fact that we're flipping trees and that already is that this is... this is the main highway ` we ain't even into the narrow stuff yet. We're still 150km from tonight's destination of Tolaga Bay, but we're turning off the main highway. There's another rail bridge ahead that we can't fit under, and the detour will cost us an extra 45 minutes. If we wanted to stay ahead of the cyclone, we're starting to cut it fine. - Trees left and right, all the way through the cutting there, D. - And that's the problem with these detours, isn't it? It's pretty cosy. - Yeah. - It's pitch black and incredibly tight. So far, so good for the precious new wharekai. I'm kind of glad Adrienne, Dick and Katerina can't see it right now. - RT: Nice and easy under this bit of cover here, D. Everything's a bit heavy, mate. - And so, just like that, we're through the detour. Just turning back on to the main road now. - Go around now. - Only 5km ahead of where we turned off, and an hour later. - Can you think of anything better to do on a Sunday night, mate (?) (CHUCKLES) - Yeah, I could be curled up in the foetal position. - (LAUGHS) Oh, that would suck. - Yeah, it would actually. Yeah. Nah, this is way better. - And, boy, am I glad Dionne's here! This is undoubtedly one of the worst weather events, along with some of the most atrocious road conditions I've ever seen, but we're determined to push through. It's midnight, and we're rolling into Wairoa. It's time for a quick coffee for the crew. The good news is the rain and wind are easing off. The bad news is that there's another rail bridge ahead that we can't pass, which means another detour along the back road into Gisborne. All thanks to one railway bridge. - Happy Valentine's Day, mate. (BOTH LAUGH) - Oh, I couldn't think of anyone else to spend it with (!) - That's gold, eh. - (LAUGHS) Here's your Valentine's present. - Oh, you're a legend. - Got you a Pixie Caramel. - (BOTH LAUGH) - How romantic (!) - (BOTH LAUGH) And it's looking like there's gonna be plenty of time to chew on that chocolate bar on the bypass ahead. It's gonna be a slow detour. There's debris and chaos from the storm everywhere. And sure enough, we're only a couple of kilometres into the detour when we hit our next obstacle. The side of the road has fallen away from the heavy rain, and now we're stuck. Elwyn needs to force the way through, so the chainsaws are coming out. Boys are gonna get the chainsaws out, do a bit of pruning before we can carry on up this way, but if this is anything to go by, it could be real slow from here on in. It's another delay Elwyn and his crew don't need. Every minute lost clearing the road is another minute closer to the logging trucks starting their morning run. - RT: Come slightly up on your right, really. - You can see why the control of these trailers is just so important on narrow roads like this. You can hear, over the comms, Dion being instructed to lift the left, right, come up, bring it down. And we're dealing with, sort of, 100, 200 mills at a time, which is all the gap that we have to get over fences or around poplar trees or avoiding dirt banks. We're making progress, but just a few kilometres down the road, we get more bad news. - RT: There's another tree halfway down across the road up here. - Is he saying another tree? - Yeah. - Jeez! Another larger tree is down. This is not what you want to have happen at... quarter to 3 in the morning. A significant tree has come down across the road ` just a product of all this rainfall. - Just trying to cut that tree down that's laying across the road. See if we can clear the way and get through again. It's a fairly big one. - It's pretty obvious that no other vehicles have come through and the tree has only just fallen. The guys need to figure out how to safely take it down and get it off the road so we can carry on. (CHAINSAW BUZZES) - Whoo! Well done! A tree this size can weigh up to a ton or more, and it's a big job hauling it off the road. Yeah, well, that whole process actually only took 15 minutes. These guys are... well, they've got all the tools in the back of their truck, and they can just rip into it. So this is good. This is good. Back in the truck, and we'll be back on our way. (WATER SPLASHES) It's been six hours of hard driving already. The events of the night are catching up with me. We're still 70km shy of our target of Tolaga Bay, and the crew are pushing hard, but there's a one-lane bridge ahead that we're too wide for. - RT: Lifting the right hand side. - Dion is tilting the load at nearly 30 degrees. It's dark, it's tight, and we're taking it carefully. - Bit of slide on the left. - We're only just clearing the top of the bridge, and there's a serious overhang on the right-hand side. (TENSE MUSIC) - Yes, that's clear. - Clear. - But it's all in a day's work for these guys. Just maybe not this guy. (MUSIC CONTINUES) Our permits dictate we need to be off the road before the morning traffic kicks off, but the delays with the cyclone and the debris on the road means we're only just pulling into Gisborne at quarter to 5, and that's 50km shy of our target of Tolaga Bay. Well, that's night one done. We've sort of essentially broken the back of it. But, of course, tomorrow, when we go on to SH35, it's gonna throw up a whole new set of obstacles. And I've no idea how much rain has fallen in these parts, but it's already given us so many headaches. So I hope that the road's are a little bit more easygoing than it's been tonight. It's the second day of the move, and up at Tikitiki, the marae's been spared the worst of last night's cyclone. And while the Brittons team and I have been sleeping before tonight's journey, Dick and the cousins are busy prepping for the house's arrival. - Just trimming up what I think is still overhanging, like, these, sort of ones here. So when they come through at 5 o'clock in the morning, they're not running around trying to clear these things. - It's an exciting time for the marae, and some of the community are sleeping over to welcome the new wharekai at first light. - Really, really excited and anxious ` really anxious about tomorrow. And, yeah, looking forward to the house finally landing. - Don't you cry. You're gonna be laughing tomorrow. - Ah yes. - (CHUCKLES) - The Moon's starting to peek out, it's finally stopped raining, but more importantly, all going well, this building, named Mahiti, at about 5 o'clock in the morning, will be delivered to its brand new home on the marae, where a whole lot of excited friends and whanau will be, uh, waiting to receive it. We fuelled the truck up, boys are switching everything on ` it's time to get going. Tonight's trip takes us 150km along the notoriously unstable Highway 35, winding us through the small towns of Tolaga Bay, Tokomaru Bay and Ruatoria all the way up to Rangitukia, where we finally turn off SH 35, to tackle the final 12km of shingle road. What are some of your biggest headaches on this next part of the drive? - Uh, more trees, like, we've got dropouts and, uh, just road moving everywhere. - And, of course, as we get to destination, the road gets narrower and narrower. - Yeah. So hopefully, Dick's been up there on the weekend and tidied up all the trees. - I feel like the chainsaws are gonna come out before the break of day. - Yeah, I think you could be right, mate. Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep. - And tonight I'm riding up front with Elwyn in the pilot car, as he keeps an eye out for impending danger. (ROCK MUSIC) - RT: Heaps of room on that. Come to the left a bit on that give way. (MUSIC CONTINUES) - As the lead pilot driver, Elwyn's responsible for making sure we fit. And after last night's wild weather, he's keeping an eagle eye on the roads, for any potential debris. - RT: Up your front. Up your front. Up your left side a bit. Roger. - Time for some home baking, Elwyn? - I've always got time for home baking, mate. - Oh, look at this. Mum whipped these up today. Do you want one of these? - Sure, mate. - You can't really say no. - Yeah, I can't, eh, cos your mum might be watching. - That's right. - (LAUGHS) Actually, that's really good, isn't it? - (LAUGHS) - We might call in next time we remember. - (BOTH LAUGH) - We lost an hour last night, so the pressure's on Elwyn and the team to get back on schedule and get the new wharekai to the marae by sunup. - So you can see all the power lines. - Oh, I see, yep. - Holes in there. - Yeah, right. God, that's almost worse than Devil's Elbow. - Yeah. Mate, it's horrific. 8m house northbound, just coming into the 35. - RT: Power poles, power lines on the right. - It's another hazardous drive ` the twists and turns of the notorious highway are covered with debris from yesterday's storm. But the further we get, the more isolated it feels, and the traffic is dropping right off. Do you get a bit lonely, driving by yourself? - I sing, mate. - You sing? What sort of music are you into? - Country, mate. - Country and western? - Country boy. - Whoo! - Yeah, yeah. You know when you've got a good country song, mate ` it's always got a truck and a train. - And an open road. - Yeah. - Luckily, this stretch of the highway seems to have escaped the worst of last night's weather. And we're making good time. But it's just gone 3am, which means we have another problem. (TRUCK HORN HONKS) We were likely to start seeing logging trucks from now on, being after 3 in the morning, trying to get that first run in, and around the corner they come in. They need a whole lot of room to pull over. But the... the secret weapon that we have is,... um, a radio dedicated just to the trucking channel, and they all seem to be on it, so it's easy to communicate with them and say, 'Hey, look, there's a big house up ahead ` 'can you pull over, please?' With the weather on our side tonight, we make it through the worst of Highway 35 in good time. It's a chance for a quick break before the final 12km of shingle road, and I'm jumping back in the cab with Dion for a bird's-eye view of our arrival. Your old friend's back. You miss me? - Yeah, yeah, it's been lonely. (CHUCKLES) - But within moments, we're down to a crawl again. RT: Heavy, bro. It's here, bro. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. Real heavy. - Hit the gutter. - The overgrown branches are closing overhead. We're so close to the marae, and it's our first piece of collateral damage. It actually looks like we've lost a little bit of the guttering. I'm quite glad that Dick and the others, um, can't see what's happening right now. It's just too much pressure on the old classroom from the overgrown branches. It's kind of heartbreaking to come 399km, and on that final stretch, to have a bit of damage. But we always knew this last bit was gonna be really tight. You know, none of this is not replaceable, so it can be repaired. But I must admit, the slow crawl feels appropriate, given the significance of our load for the community waiting. (PONDEROUS MUSIC) Well, we always knew the last part of this journey was gonna be tight ` I didn't realise it was gonna be quite this tight. Oi. Jeez, that's close. Yeah, these are where the trailers really come into their own ` that ability to sort of crab and twist them sideways, even using the ram on top to push them back and drop them down, just even that much further, can be the difference between getting under some of these branches and not at all. Up ahead, there are more large trees in our path, but at the moment, Deon is lifting the trailer to its maximum height of 2.8m, to try and get the building over the scrub. Look how high they're lifting this up. It's incredible. These buildings can go, on these trailers, up to about 2.8m, which allows them to get over things, which is what they're doing now. You know, given that we've got this far with the building so intact, it would be heartbreaking for any more of it to... to come off now. We're so close. But the maximum height is not enough. This is getting outrageous. The building's up over 2.5m. And yet that doesn't look like it's quite high enough to come through this next thick bit of scrub. Boys have got some cutting to do. Despite Dick's best efforts on the chainsaw, we're still not getting through, and the team are gonna have to give the trees another prune. Luckily, it's just hardy scrub, that will regrow quickly. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) Sun's just about up, and we're still inching our way along the gravel road to the marae. And finally we make it, after two days and almost 400km, and Dick and Katerina and Adrienne are there to greet us. - Wow. Just look at that, eh. - Our dream has actually come true. - Oh, this is great. We can actually see the marae and see where Mahiti, the wharekai, is going ` to its new home. We've got through all the scrub, we've got round the difficult last section ` just a short run up this gravel road. It's just gone 7 o'clock. With the delays of the past couple of kilometres, we're a little behind our target of 6am, but the extended family are here in numbers, watching the load across the final few hundred metres of farmland here. (BOTH SING KARANGA) (RHYTHMIC MUSIC) I can't imagine the boys from Brittons Housemovers ever having a welcome on site quite like this one. It's a tight squeeze through the front gate, but nothing compared to what we've just come through. (INSPIRING MUSIC) The building's arrival heralds the beginning of a new era, and a plan to rejuvenate the heart of the marae and bring the younger generations back home. - I can't believe our house has come in one piece, eh. Just picked it up and just moved it, just like it. - It's a big moment for the community of Karuwai Marae, and it's a big turnout to welcome the new wharekai home. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) Most of the building came with us. - Yeah. - There's just been a couple of little` I think it adds a little bit of character. - Yeah, sure does. - That's a small price to pay. - (LAUGHTER) - BOTH: Yeah. - That's a small price to pay. - And, Dick, I have to ask, could you hear the sound of chainsaws in the distance? - No, I couldn't. I was listening for them. But I could hear the truck. - Cos it was nice of you to leave a few branches for us to chop, cos I felt more involved. - Yeah. - Did it feel like a family member arriving? - Yeah. - Her and I just cuddled each other and just cried. - Yeah. - We just couldn't stop crying. - We did. Yeah. - We did. We had a real howly-bag. - (BOTH LAUGH) - The dining hall is here, but there's months of work ahead for the team, before this building becomes the welcoming hub they envisage. I'm gonna leave you guys to it for a while, but when I come back, am I gonna see some progress? Is it gonna... - Heck yeah. - ...all be in place? - Yeah. Absolutely. I'm sure. Pretty sure. - BOTH: Yeah. - Good luck. - ALL: Yay! - What a lovely sight! It was. The old has gone. It's the young generation now. Yeah. It's up to them. - It's been a huge couple of nights, and breakfast couldn't be a moment sooner. The moving team have one last job to complete, preparing the hall to be lowered on to its new foundations in the morning. Well, well done. - Oh, thanks. - You've earned a day off. Are you back into it tomorrow? - Oh, I'll take the first one ` you gave me the day off; I'm having it. - There you go. - Yeah. (LAUGHS) - I'm given him the day off, Elwyn. - (BOTH LAUGH) The new wharekai is finally here. And these piles truly are the foundation of something much bigger than just a building. But for Adrian, Dick and Katerina, there's a lot of work ahead to transform it into the welcoming hub for the community. It was over a year ago that we took our old special schoolhouse up the coast to its new home at Karuwai Marae. And this is what's left of the bridge we crossed to get there. And that was a dark and moody night, with the storm literally chasing us up the coast. However, that weather event, well, that was to pale into insignificance with what was to follow. Cyclone Gabrielle is the worst weather event in recent history to hit New Zealand. The East Cape was one of the hardest-hit areas, and it was months before SH35 was to reopen. It is the lifeline for the East Cape, and the whole area has been very difficult, if not impossible, to access. I'm returning to Rangitukia to pay a visit to Karuwai Marae. Now, while the old schoolhouse that we moved to the marae wasn't in itself affected by the cyclone and flooding, it did cut off this entire district, so I'm actually keen to catch up with the local community, see how they fared, whether that's dampened their future plans for the marae. It's been over a year, and I've been dying to come back. The marae has been cut off for months and months, but now I'm here, and I'm a little apprehensive as to what I'm going to find. (FOOTSTEPS SQUELCH) Amazingly, everything looks intact. There's even a new deck now. But that looks about it. I wonder if the inside has had much work done to it. But that is a question for Dick, Katerina and Adrienne, the kaitiaki trustees of this marae. It's part of the custom of this marae, here, that we're not able to go inside until it's complete. - Every marae different, but that's the tikanga here. I still have a 96-year-old mother who will stand by that, who will not allow us to go into the whare until it's completed. - (CLEARS THROAT) Well, that's how I've been brought up too ` I've never asked any questions about it. - Just follow the tikanga... - Mm. - that's been left from our... - Been put in place? - Yeah. - Tikanga within Maori culture tends to be based on experience and learnings that have been handed down through generations. What it means to us at this time is that we're unable to film inside the wharekai. So we might not be allowed inside at the moment, but there's nothing stopping us having a wander around outside? - Yeah, no. Let's go. We can have a bit of a wander. - Have a bit of a look? - Yeah. - The ground is so boggy, it's hard enough to walk, let alone work in. You're dead right, Dick ` there's no way a contractor's gonna get in here every day, right? - No, not without making a mess, anyway. - You've got your wheelchair access sorted. You've had a deck go in. - Yep, yep. No, that's all been finished. So this is the firewall, and we're gonna have on that, uh, nearer that end, the gas bottles. - Ah, this is all new too. - Yeah. - It's looking good, eh. - Yep. - Yeah. - The empty space, at the moment, is where the chiller's gonna go ` more than cater for what we need, at our different huis. - Awesome. - And there'll be steps up here, once the plumbing's gone through. - Many moving parts, but you need them all to happen in the right order, right? The move and the old schoolhouse cost the trust $160,000 delivered. A lot of people, you know, they'll see the cyclone on TV and see the damage it's done, but it has a massive long tail, doesn't it? I mean, you guys have only just had your road reopened. - Yeah. - I just had to stay put ` just couldn't go anywhere. Couldn't even get into Gisborne. - Yeah. - So that's how bad Gabrielle, you know, affected those of us that are away from home. - What's been going on up here, Dick? - I came down, uh, the day before the cyclone and tied the tanks. There's no water in them yet, so they're empty. And to stop them getting blown away, I came down and tied them to the fence line with, uh, ropes. - From my perspective, as a trustee, as a whanau, it's sheer frustration for me. - Mm. - It really is. It's almost like we're trying, trying really hard. We want the project finished, we want our whanau to come home, but then we come across barriers. - I can hear your passion, you know, for the project, and particularly the way that you're visualising getting people and young people back here. And so that goal is sitting there. It's on the horizon, and it will happen, you know, as soon as this rain stops. - It has brought our young people back. Look at their whakapapa and history and all that sort of stuff. As kids, we were all brought up here, you know, we bond ` we're like sisters and brothers, and for me, that's about them living... what we had. - It's actually helped to reconnect... - Mm. ...the wider whanau. It's helped us to reconnect within ourselves. Come back here. We never forget this place. Uh, but now, we've got a really good reason to always come back. - We're still waiting on the stove, which is gonna go here, and the fridge somewhere over here, I think. - I'm pleased to know that there is a stove still going in, cos we've got something here that... might come in useful... - Aw. - ...for you guys, because no marae... (CHUCKLES) is complete, uh, without a decent big pot. - Yeah, we'd get, um, half a dozen puddings in that one, wouldn't we? - Yeah. Yeah. And we can put a couple of baskets in there and cook some crays and some pauas or whatever. - Thank you very much. - Yeah, actually I'm gobsmacked. I've got nothing to say. - (LAUGHTER) - You know, I really admire the determination here at Karuwai, to have gone through such a massive weather event, and yet it hasn't deterred them. And I'm really looking forward to popping back when Mahiti is up and running and, maybe putting some crayfish in that pot.