- All over the country, people are moving houses,... - Watch that truck, eh? - Wow, this is getting tight now. - Can you swim? - (LAUGHS) ...from old villas to modern homes... (TRUCK HORN HONKS) ...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. The front wheels are skidding. - Whoa! (BLEEP)! - There's no obstacle too big... (CHAINSAW BUZZING) - 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. - It's about to get very ugly down this hill. - Hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa! - Whoo! - (TRUCK HORN HONKS) - How far would you go to match your ideal house to the location of your dreams? This time,... This is a monster. - Yeah, it's a good size. - How many square metres? - Just under 260. - ...a soon-to-be married couple make a vow. - We're getting married in November, so it'd be nice to, kind of, have it all in place as newlyweds. - (CHUCKLES) - But this young couple haven't chosen the conventional route, and what's ahead might shock them. - A guy in a van. Wide pass load, mate. - Ridiculous behaviour. - So when all is said and done, will it be wedding bells... - What you can see there is a wedding seating chart. - ...or warning bells? - (BELLS CLANG) - Gonna make it, mate? - So come along for the ride. This is Moving Houses. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023. - Engaged couple Rob and Jayne have big house plans ahead of their marriage in five months. Rob is a partner on the family farm in Greendale, and Jayne is a project manager at a dairy company. - We're a sheep and cropping farm. We've got about 300 hectares of irrigation, and the rest is dry land, um, grazing. - Yeah, I'm the weekend helper. (CHUCKLES) We'll help with whatever's needed in the weekends, sometimes, to give you guys a break, eh? - They've decided to move closer to Rob's family farm in the Canterbury Plains, west of Christchurch. After living in town, it's time for a change. - Seems about the right time for us to come move out here and be out here. - Yeah. - I got sick of waiting to get married, so all in the same year. - I got sick of living in town, so... (CHUCKLES) Yeah, nice to be able to, sort of, roll out of bed and have your job right at your doorstep. - To help save up for the house of their dreams, they've moved in with Rob's parents. - They've graciously let us crash back here and, uh, giving us a good opportunity to help save money at the moment, which is... - ...needed with the wedding, eh? - ...needed with the wedding. - And they've got the perfect spot picked out on their family land. - It's nice, sort of, established trees and, um, quiet road, which is nice. - But rather than build new, they're taking on a relocatable home. - We decided to relocate house, I guess, for a couple of reasons. The first would have been value for money, and based, you know, on the landscape and where we are, we wanted a little bit of a house with character, so we've picked something that suits the location. - Mm-hm. Yeah. - And Jayne has planned everything out. - You know, I've got the Gantt charts going. You know, the foundations here, the house moves here, the builder comes here, and, yeah, look, in a perfect world, we'll be in just after the wedding, hey, so we can move into our marital home. But we'll have to wait and see what's in store for us. - Yeah. - Taking on a relocatable home can be a brave move for many. And for this young couple, it's a big step. The good news is that they don't have to go too far to find their ideal house ` it's only 15 minutes away, at the King House Removals yard, in Christchurch. Gidday. You must be Rob. - Gidday. How are ya? Yes. Nice to meet you. - And Jayne. - Nice to meet you. - And this is a monster. - Yeah, it's a good size. - How many square metres? - Just under 260. - And that includes the garage? - Yeah. - That is a lovely modern aspect of a home like this, right ` being able to drive in, and then walk straight inside? - Yeah, connected garage, we were pretty keen on, after battling the elements out at Mum and Dad's. - I mean, it's a wonderfully large farmhouse. It will suit us in the future. Your dad came and looked at it with us. - Yeah, Dad actually came and looked at it. - It's always nice to have the dad seal of approval. - Yeah. He renovated his own house back in the day, so he's got a pretty good idea of what to look for, in terms of building. Came through the earthquakes, survived that, so I'd like to think he knows what he's doing. (CHUCKLES) - Yeah. But, wow, it's huge, and it's high. This sure is going to test the moving company skills. Not only that, but the huge four-bedroom home was originally brick, and bricks don't move well. So the house was stripped of its exterior cladding, for its move here to the King's yard a few weeks ago. Such an unusual perspective, approaching a house from this elevated angle. - Yeah. - The house was relocated to the yard minus its concrete base, which is a little hard to move, So today is a chance for a bit of a heads-up, rather than a walk-through. It's such a strange perspective to be here, peering up. It looks like, what, bench space going up and around. - Yeah. Sort of, breakfast bar coming in round here. - Are you gonna keep it like this, Rob? - Probably have some changes. I think Jayne's got some ideas up her sleeve, I think. - Well, at least change the colour. - Change the colour? - Yeah. - The gold handles aren't staying? - No, I don't think they'll stay either. - (LAUGHS) No. - Yeah, they obviously tied in with the light switch, back in the day. - Yeah. I think we're gonna alter some of this; I think Jayne wants to blow the wall out a wee bit ` open it up a wee bit more. - OK. Plans are already underfoot for changes. - Yeah. - So, where are we now? - We're in the dining room. - The dining room? - From here, it absolutely flows wonderfully out to where we're gonna change the doors, so we can have a little bit of an indoor-outdoor lifestyle. - And what a lifestyle this house can provide! It's got four double bedrooms, dining room, living room, laundry and a second lounge. There's also a massive TV room with a gorgeous bay window. Got your cup of tea and your ginger nut, sitting on your seat that Rob's made you ` what are you looking out at? - Hopefully some beautiful trees, maybe a nice lawn ` just depends on, kind of, how the landscaping goes. - Right. - And it really depends on where the solar panels are gonna end up as well. - Ah right. Yeah. - So once the house is actually down on site, the solar guys can come out and figure out the best position for them to be. - Mm-hm. So not just on the roof of the house? - No, we're not gonna have them on the roof; we're gonna have them on the ground. - And why is that? - They can get the best pitch and so that they can get the most sun. - You guys have had some fun nights at home researching all this stuff, haven't you? - BOTH: Yeah. - Sort of get down the rabbit hole, it's pretty interesting. - BOTH: Yeah. - Ooh, look what I've found. If we move this and adjust this, and you don't put PlayStation on between the hours of this and this, we can have power. - Funnily enough, that came up quite a bit, eh? (CHUCKLES) - Yeah. - It looks like they've prepared for everything. Rob and Jayne have big plans for this big place, with a real vision to transform it into their farmhouse forever home. I'm really happy to be along for the ride on this one. This is the first brick move that I've actually been involved with, and I can't wait to see them added, to complete the transformation. Arriving at their 20-hectare site, I'm starting to see why Rob and Jayne are so excited. Their family property is a beautiful location in Greendale, in the Canterbury Plains and just 30km down the road from where the house is now. The farm itself is 530 hectares, so there'll be a couple of kilometres between each of the family homes. And even on a dreary day like today, it's not hard to see why they've chosen this picturesque site. And so the layout ` was there any real discussion around the layout and how the house was gonna go? - Yeah. Well, Jayne loves the sun, so... - Who doesn't? - (CHUCKLES) - You don't like the sun? Oh, nothing like a day like today, though, is there (?) But, yeah, so, basically, it was we came out in the... in the summer, and then we've looked at it again in the wintertime, just to see how the setback is from the poplar trees and the oak trees over there. So we're far enough back here that the crest, the top of those poplars, you still get the midday winter sun over it. - Wow. - So it's gonna be sheltered, but nice and sunny at the same time. So... - And we wanted to keep that, kind of, natural... the natural contours of the land, to, like, enable drainage, so we didn't have to do anything extra. - Well, it's a real luxury, to be able to have that time to watch seasons come and go, so you know exactly... - Yeah. - ...how to make the most of it. Yes. Exactly. Dad planted all these trees back in the day, and he's been quite passionate, planting most of the paddocks and trees. - So where's it all gonna go? Talk me through the layout. - So, we've got the kitchen over here. You can see some pegs in the background ` that's gonna be the start of the driveway. And then we've got living room over here. And then master over here with northwest views, sun all day ` that's the plan. - It'll be wonderful and open, though, with some beautiful doors that open out on to the... to the garden and hopefully a deck. - Yeah. - So it'll be a wonderful place to, kind of, entertain and have people round for dinner or even just for us. - BOTH: Yeah. - And is this rain gonna be a problem if it doesn't ease up? - Oh, we've got a couple of tractors we'll hack on to the front of the truck and give her a bit of a pull. We should be right. - Cos this isn't the only big milestone you guys have got coming up this year. - Yeah, we're getting married in November, so it'd be nice to, kind of, have it all in place, so we can move into the house and not have to live with the in-laws as newlyweds. - (ALL CHUCKLE) - Newlyweds with Mum and Dad? - Yeah, ideally, but hopefully, everything goes to plan. - I really like how ambitious and organised Rob and Jayne are, but they've booked themselves a real sequential order of events, from the earthworks to the house move to the building arriving on time, to the builder arriving on time. And, of course, they're trying to get married in the middle of that as well. And if there's just one slip-up along the way, like, I don't know, a significant weather event, then their dreams of being newlyweds and in their own home before Christmas, well, it could easily wash away. These two are on a tight schedule to be in their new home by their wedding day, just two months away, and after multiple delays to the moving date, due to the wet winter, a stuck truck ` that's the last thing they need. - So hopefully we're not gonna have any... too many more delays. We've got the builder booked for September, so... and he's fully booked outside of that, so we're, uh,... hoping everything is smooth sailing from here on. Last thing I wanna do now is have to go find another builder. - And that builder is going to be responsible for getting the house ready for the all-important brickie. And 260m2 needs a lot of brick, and that process starts today. Out of the two of you, who gets more excited about bricks? - Me. Yeah. - Yeah. - Absolutely. - Were you into bricks before this? - No, not at all. I actually didn't like them, but we've come round to actually putting the house back in brick. - Back in brick. And, Jayne, I can't help but notice that your eye keeps coming over here. Are these are the bricks you've chosen? - (ALL LAUGH) - They're my favourite of all of the bricks, and they're the bricks that we've chosen. - Oh phew. Oh. That's lucky. - (LAUGHTER) - I can't stop. I really enjoy them. I haven't seen them in a while, so I really, really like them. - Just haven't decided on the grouting yet ` whether we go light or dark. - It's one thing to look at one brick, but to have them all stacked up, it can sort of transform the look of it. Looking at them now on the palette, are you still happy with that decision? - Oh, so happy. I can't wait to see them on the house. - So, did you have a little hero brick that you took on the road with you to compare? - We actually did do that. We took the brick around the subdivisions with us, and we would hold them up to people's houses. - Your little hero brick travelling along the road with you? - Yeah, we did. Yeah. - I can see why Rob and Jayne are keen to re-brick, but the brickwork will have to wait until Jayne and Rob have safely trucked the house 30km to the new site in Greendale. To do that, the house has been cut into four parts, which will be moved over two nights. Luckily, the man in charge of the move knows the outskirts of Christchurch like the back of his hand. - Tonight just we're gonna take two pieces of the four-piece house. We'll just take the garage and the bedroom section here. And why are we gonna take those ` they're the two smaller loads. And we'll take the 11m-wide one on it's own there on Tuesday night. I think the weather's gonna be all right for the next two nights. But Wednesday, we're talking about rain, so we wanna get it stitched back together by then if we can ` if. Mm. See how we go. - 30km is not a big move, as far as house relocations go, but this house is high, and that means some difficult challenges ahead. Is there anything you're worried about on this move? - Uh, yeah, if the wind comes up, it's when you come out of behind trees and stuff, you get those gusts, especially when you've got a house with the likes of the middle section here ` it's open on each side. It can blow right through and blow the iron up, and we don't want any of that, and suck the batts out of the roof, and we don't want that either. - Yeah, and, of course, we've got the power lines to contend with, but it is only a short route. - We've got a few wires to go under. The width's not gonna be the problem ` it's more the height, because this one here is about 8.5m wide, and it's right across the top at full width. So normally we like the bridge running along the trailer, but this one, it's running crossways. - Yeah, of course, it's against the grain, isn't it? So I guess more chance of catching on wires. - There's wires actually over the whole trip. - The trucks are ready to hit the road, which gives Rob and Jayne one last look over their home before it hits the highway. - It has got insulation all round the outside. - Yeah, of course it does. - Yeah, I was just looking up at it. - They shouldn't come out, should they? - Depends how fast Grant drives. (CHUCKLES) - Relocation is a bold move in anyone's books, and there's no turning back now. Here we go. Final checks are done. Looks like the wind's gonna hold out, too, which is great. Of course, this is only night one of two. And I can see that Rob and Jayne are riding behind us. I've done this a few times before, and I'm sure they're gonna find this a wild ride. At 10pm, we roll out. We're taking the back roads west, past the airport and on to Highway 73 for 40km. It's more or less a straight line from there, over a tricky rail crossing at Aylesbury, a seven-road intersection at Charing Cross, before we turn left on to the final few kilometres to Rob and Jayne's new site. So tonight, I'm riding up front with Grant, and we've got the first section, of a bedroom and a bathroom. And behind us is Jono, and he's hauling a garage and a back room section. Just like that, we're officially on the road. - Another trip down the road, eh? - Another trip down the road, Grant. Tonight, we're travelling along some highways that will make the pilot vehicles a key part of getting us there safely. We've got two ahead of the loads, one at the rear and a Power Board escort at the very back, in case we get into trouble with any low-hanging lines. And so, are you expecting much traffic tonight? - Oh, just depends what time the shift changes are at the dairy factory out there. - Right. - If we time it right, we're fine. But, yeah, if we time it wrong, it can get busy. - There's quite a few moving parts to this game, isn't it? - Yeah, there is. Yeah. Lots of things you gotta take into account. - Tonight's big challenge is the height of the loads they're carrying. And we're only a few kilometres into the journey when our first obstacle slows us to a crawl. - RT: Good line for a truck. - It's the first of the low-hanging power lines that Grant's worried about. - That's interesting. I like how they're driving over that. - RT: You're heaps under that. It's going over nicely, mate. - When you go past a house and the lights go out. (BOTH LAUGH) - Yep. Didn't touch those lives, mate. - All right. Well, we're safely under that, which establishes a really good, sort of, understanding of how high this load is. But it doesn't mean that we can't take any of these lines for granted. By car, this journey would take us less than 30 minutes. - Just start to bring it down, Jono. - But with the power lines as a regular hazard,... - Still 50 mill. - ...it could take three hours. - And all clear on that one, bud. - Cheers, bud. - One more set of wires behind us, but the next set has Grant really worried. (TRUCK ENGINE REVS) What, that's gonna be tight. - RT: Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo. - I'll pick the left up a bit, mate. - You just gotta watch that folding pipe on the left, mate. - Yeah. - Yeah, I'm just watching the left. - RT: Going over nicely on the right. - (BLEEP) Just got the phone wires, mate. - Something snagged that phone wire. - What, caught in it? - Yeah. Yeah, it must have caught on something up there. - Oh, it's the lines. - It's not a power line? - No, it's a phone one. - RT: Oh, nah, it hasn't broken completely. It's just drooping. - OK. How far is it hanging down? - Ah, it hit the cab of the MAM. - Eurgh. Well, this is not good. We've still got the Power Board boys. They're gonna have to investigate, and this is gonna take time. - Yeah, just dragging the flat phone thing. - The phone wires, they have them in a loop and on a hook. Hopefully it's just come off the hook. - The Power Board escort is going to try and fix the wire, so the second load can pass under. Ooh, cripes, that's high up. Far out. That is not ideal. And we're only, what, a couple of kilometres down the road ` I don't know what the rest of the night's gonna be like. The height of the roof has brought down a sagging phone line. - A bit of excitement. Good thing the Power Board's here. (BOTH LAUGH) - Home homeowners Rob and Jayne have been observing the drama unfold before them. - Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it was never gonna be completely smooth sailing. - It was kind of lucky, in a way, that that was just a phone line. But those power lines are ever-present as well. - RT: You all good to take them? - RT: Yeah, mate. - RT: Righty-oh, bud. - Luckily the wire can be rehung, so the garage and the bedrooms can make it through, and we're back on the road to Rob and Jayne's new site in Greendale. - It's clear of that overhanging line. All clear. Watch the centre island. Cheers, bud. - RT: Yeah, about 50 mil now, mate. - We've only got 25km to go, but if the last 30 minutes are anything to go by, we've got a long night ahead of us, and I'm having a crisis of my own. Where the hell is my pork crackle? - (LAUGHS) - I was gonna offer you some pork crackle. But I can only offer you one of my snakes. - (LAUGHS) Nah, I'm all good, mate. Thank you. - I'm gonna have a snake. It's 11pm, and we're approaching West Melton, just over halfway to Rob and Jayne's site in Greendale. But up ahead is a stretch of roadworks, which means extra road signs and lots of cones for the trucks to negotiate. - RT: Yeah, a good 900 out right. Yeah, loads of room out left. - Do you know about these roadworks? - Yeah, we've come through here today and checked up on it, gave them a heads-up we're coming through. - It's good that you're aware of this thing, right? This is brilliant. - Yeah, but they're putting more signs up and, you know, bloody putting them up opposite trees and things. - RT: Looking good out left, mate. All good right. Loads of room. Looking good both sides. - We're only just scraping through. Kind of feels like threading a needle. - Bit of left. - You get a whole lot of these different things come to life, late at night, when everyone goes to bed ` one of them obviously moving houses; and the other one is late-night roadworks. And when the two meet, it can get really slow, like this. - I'll take it on the left here out on the T. - What's that? - It's actually wider on the left than what it is trying to get into those trees on the right. - OK, you can lay down that sign, then. - Yes, please, mate. - I'm guessing there could be some more entertainment coming up for Rob and Jayne behind us. We're almost at the end of the roadworks, but the pilots spot a potential red flag for tomorrow night's move. - RT: They're concreting in big (BLEEP) bolts for some big signs, by the looks of it. - We've just heard that the pilots have, uh, spotted new signage being installed on the sides of the road. And of course, if that goes up tonight, it could cause problems tomorrow, when we come through with an even wider load. - We're through the roadworks, but behind us, the second load carrying the bedrooms has a problem. There's a backlog of traffic, and one driver has had enough. - RT: There is room for a couple of vehicles to park down here, behind this one. He might shock me. - Where is he going? - Oh, just so that van is behind the rear pilots and not with us. - A van driver is weaving between the two rear pilot vehicles. - This is to the next level. - It's hard enough weaving 40 tons through road cones. The dangerous driver is making everyone nervous. - RT: A van's trying to pass through now. Just coming up your right side. - The van driver spots a gap and goes for it. He's flying past, undercutting, with no regard for safety. - (BLEEP) A guy in a van's flying past those, mate. - RT: Righty-oh, mate. - Stay on that vehicle. - We all just saw that ridiculous behaviour. Wow. Do you think...? Just wow. - RT: Got a van coming up behind you there, mate. - RT: Yeah, bro. - The danger is not over yet. The van has caught up with us and is now trying to get past our load. - It's coming up your right side. - OK. With the beams, I might just tuck it back up, eh? - So you're just gonna pull over and let them pass? - Yeah, mate. Get rid of him, eh? - Get rid of him. - Let him go and ruin somebody else's night. - Oh, how often does that sort of thing happen? - Oh, it happens all the time. Just let them go and ruin somebody else's night, eh? - Far out. I mean, you like to think that maybe there was an emergency or something, or just an impatient person. - Oh, it's just the way of life these days, mate ` everyone's gotta be somewhere; everybody's in a hurry. - Well, I'm pleased we made it through that bit of bad behaviour unscathed. I kind of do hope that that person just, you know, maybe had somewhere better to be. But we've got more obstacles up ahead. We've got railway tracks to cross. So the pilots are calling ahead to New Zealand Rail, to make sure that they're clear. It's gonna be a tight squeeze over the railroad tracks. - You see it's got a fork formed across the line ` one road goes to the left, one goes to the right on the other side of the line. So if you've got any length on, you've gotta go square through these bells, and you can't turn. Otherwise, your tail or your load will swing into the... into the side of the bells. - RT: Yeah. Oh. Can we lay it over to your left, mate? Slowly, slowly, slowly. Yep. Just got past. - Getting stuck on the railway lines is not an option. Already, there's a train waiting up the line for us to cross. - I rang the railways a little bit earlier, and they're getting all pissy. They've got one sitting at Springfield, so, uh, we'll get over these lines and out of the way. Looking good out right, mate. You've got a good 900 that line. - See, if you've got any length on, you've got the post right in the middle there, so you can't go. - All good. Yeah, a good 800, 900 out right. - We are inching across the rail crossing, to get the right line into the corner. This is one place we don't want to get stuck. - All clear on your tail on your left. There are about, oh, 80 flats on your left side. - Grant has to rely entirely on the eyes and ears of the pilot cars, as we crawl across. - All clear on your tail on your left. - All clear now, mate. - Both loads make it over. But Grant's worried about tomorrow night's move, which is significantly wider. - Well, we're gonna be wider, so we'll be out towards the centre of the road a bit further. And that way, we'll be... touching the wires, because the trailer will be up to the centre of the road, over to the crown of the road. (RADIO STATIC HISSES) - But for now, Grant's attention must stay on this load, with just a couple of kilometres till they get to Greendale. - RT: Are we there yet? - (CHUCKLES) You see the cone? - Yeah, mate, I right in between all three sets of our headlights ` that's where you going in. - Cool. I'll just go nice and slow, so I don't get the truck dirty. - Yeah, bro. (ROCK MUSIC) - Sorry, mate, but you're gonna turn into a pumpkin. - Are you talking to the skinny in the back truck? - He's already a pumpkin. - (LAUGHS) - We're taking it slowly as we turn into the paddock and lift over the gate. - And you're about 100 mills up on the right. - It's the last push. We're hoping, just hoping that ground stays firm beneath us. - Got loads on the wires, mate. - We're so close. At 12.15, we've arrived in good time, and I'm guessing a couple of people behind us are feeling pretty relieved. - Satisfying. Satisfying. It's, yeah, one thing to look at it up on stilts in the yard, the other to look at a trailer in the paddock, finally. And I didn't have to get the tractor out, which is always a bonus as well. So, yeah. - Yeah, it wasn't too bad, eh? Just a few low wires and a few trees and stuff to dodge round. Everybody will knock off and have their 10-hour break now, so come back tomorrow. - The garage and bedrooms are finally on site. Ooh! (LAUGHS) Night one done. Of course, tomorrow night gets a bit tricky, because the load gets even wider, and this is all running along a really meticulous timeline as well. Rob and Jayne's big wedding day fast approaches. - Hopefully we're in before. - Fingers crossed. - Hopefully. - (CHUCKLES) Glass half full, right? - Yeah, have to be. - Yeah, yeah. (ROCK MUSIC) - So here we are, night two. What are we moving tonight? - Tonight, we're lounge, kitchen. So the widest load tonight. Good bit of mucking round with some power wires and stuff tonight, but it shouldn't be too bad. We've got a railway crossing, which is a bit tight to get through. - But just one big load? - Yeah, one big load. Yeah. - What about the dining room? - We'll bring that out later, as in maybe tomorrow. We'll just see how we go, getting the rest of the house all back together. - OK. - Get the main part done. - Last-minute prep is underway, and the King's removal team is ready to hit the road again, with the largest piece of Rob and Jayne's forever home ` two lounges and a kitchen. But there's an unexpected delay. Well, it's after 10.30 now, and the Power Board still aren't here. The local council rules dictate that this move cannot go on the road until the height has been measured, and it nearly 6m high, Rob and Jayne's house is a big load, but we're all on standby until they show up. - Power Board, they're just running a bit late. They had put the guy on stand-down from last night. So he's gonna have his 10-hour break. So they've forgot to pass it on to the next guy. So we've got someone out of bed, and he's coming from the other side of town. - So what does that mean for us? - Yeah, it might be a shift change or something out at the dairy factory, so we might get a bit of traffic from there, but it shouldn't be too bad. - Yeah. - It just means a longer night. - Finally, at 11pm, the power escort arrives. - Hey, mate. We're good to go. It's the same height as the two last night. - Yeah, yeah, I'm hearing you. - It's the same height as the ones last night. So that's not a lot. - OK, guys. - You all good? - Yeah. - And luckily we get the thumbs up. So we had to get the poor Power Board guy out of bed. - Yeah. Yeah, it's a bit of a bugger, but never mind. It's the normal guy we have, he's never late, he is absolutely awesome. So just some other guys doing the job that aren't normally out there doing it. - RT: Car just round the bend, mate. Brake lights are on. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - RT: Looking good so far. RT: Looking good, mate. Another metre, and you'll be clear, mate. - We're running late after a hold up with the Power Board escort. And up ahead is the line we got caught up on last night. - This is the wire here. Phone line. This one. - RT: Up higher. Keep coming. Coming over the nicely, mate. - The eyebrows, or wooden skims, on tonight's load are doing a better job than last night. - OK. All clear on that step. - And we're clear. - RT: A wheelie bin on the right before we commence, mate. - Cheers, mate. - What'd be say, wheelie bins? - Yeah. (CHUCKLES) - Recycling night. - That's it, mate. It's always wheelie bin night where we're going. - (LAUGHS) Let's hope we can do it. Always recycling somewhere. Oh, I guess, in a way, this is recycling, though, eh? - Yeah, mate. World's biggest recyclers. It's good to see your house getting recycled, rather than going in a bloody hole somewhere. Gets, um, people into houses that, um, they normally can't afford. - I'm not sure how many wheelie bins have 72 gears, though. - (CHUCKLES) That's it. - So, it looks like we're just over halfway into our 30km journey. And up ahead, we've still got to get through the roadworks. Grant's worried about the extra width on tonight's load. - They've got some new signs that have just been put in yesterday. - And this pinch point just got a whole lot harder. - RT: Looking good so far. - RT: Yeah, in behind there, you've got 300 left, mate. - Just light brushing. - The front half squeezes past the new sign. - OK. Hold it there, Grant. - But the height of the house has now reached the overhanging tree branches. You can see this is where these trailers really show their worth. We're having to tilt and twist to get around these tree branches and, of course, miss the signs as well. - RT: Yeah, OK, good at that, bud. - RT: Yeah, looking good left side, mate. - You're clear, bud. - Another metre, and you'll be clear, mate. - We make it. But there's more dangers up ahead. - Looking good right. - Can you lean over to your left any? - RT: Not really, mate ` I've got no line yet. - We're forced to lift our load to its maximum height ` that's 40 tons at a height of 2.8m. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - RT: Give that a go, bro. - RT: Looking good. - That's it. Just over your right side a little bit. - I've seen so many moves like this, and I still find it incredible that a 40-ton house can be moved with such delicate precision. - RT: Looking good left, mate. Keep it going. - Grant's got to hold his line, while the rest of the load gets past. - RT: Looking good, bud. - Yep, over. - Grant is not letting the pressure get to him. Do you reckon tonight's gone a bit better? - Yeah. - Even with a wider load? - Yeah. - (LAUGHS) He says as we come to a complete stop. - RT: Yeah, mate. Get in there. That's excellent. - RT: OK, mate. Yeah, you got one just beyond the pole. (ROCK MUSIC) - It's just after 12am, and we're through the last of the roadworks. There's only 12km to go. - We can make up some time through here. We've got no wires, so we can put our foot down. And we've got no mad buggers coming up behind us trying to pass us. So we'll make up a bit of time. - But the biggest challenge of the night lies ahead ` crossing the train tracks. We're only 10km from our destination, and we've reached the rail crossing ` Grant's toughest test of the night. - RT: Good on the give way, mate. 50 mills. - We're squeezing past the give way. Now it's on to the crossing signs and the tracks. - RT: Go over to the left a bit. Slowly. - Gonna make it, mate? Yep. - The extra width on tonight's load is making it almost impossible for him to position the truck for the corner after the crossing. Ooh! There's just millimetres in it. I'm holding my breath! - RT: Looking good there. About a metre. At this point, and you got 400 on the rail now. Past the widest point now. You got a metre right. - But with the help of the pilots, we're across the train tracks. - After 10m, you'll be clear. Heaps of room on your left front corner of the truck, mate. (ROCK MUSIC) - It's 1am, and we're finally turning into Rob and Jayne's site in Greendale, a little later than last night, but still in good time. The two lounges and the kitchen have now arrived safely on site, to join the bedrooms and garage. They were put back together earlier in the day. After a team wrap-up, these last two big pieces will also be stitched back together. It's a murky morning in Greendale, and Grant and the team have a big day ahead, stitching together these two massive pieces of Rob and Jayne's house. And they are standing by anxiously to watch. - It's impressive, eh? - Yeah. - The dining room is still to come, but Grant is focusing on getting the main pieces of the house, the bedrooms and the lounge, together first. - Come watch the join now, Jase, please, the front. Just wanna come down a wee bit in the middle there. Yeah, about 4 inches too tight. OK, mate. Lightly does it. The truck's good there now, and we've got about a 15-mill gap there. Pull it over, that should be spot on. - It's just millimetres left to go before the main parts of the couple's dream home are together again. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - That's us, mate. You're not gonna get that any tighter. - Three parts of Rob and Jayne's house are now back together. - We're gonna try to get it in by the wedding. It certainly won't be finished, but we're hopefully gonna be in it and living in it. - The house is put down on its concrete foundations, just in time for the dining room to arrive the following day. - We've had a good run on the road at night, so, you know, we've always had good breaks, so it was nice to get through it. You know, they're on a pretty tight schedule, and we'd like to help them, hopefully she's happy. I'm sure she is. - (PHONE LINE RINGS) - Hello. How are you going? - Good. They've just got that end piece rolled in now, so` - Yes! Oh, I'm so excited. - Yeah. So... - It's a huge relief. - Yeah, yeah. So we can go pick Aaron up tomorrow and, um, rip straight into it. - (SIGHS) That's a massive relief. - Yeah. - All right. OK, well, I'll leave you to it. I was just a little worried, cos I hadn't heard from you. - No, no, no, we've been busy all morning, so... Yeah. - You're a star. I love you. - Right-oh. All right. Love you too. See ya. - See ya. - BOTH: Bye. - Happy wife, happy life. - Oh, though she's not quite the wife yet, though, is she? (LAUGHS) - It's been a couple of very wet weeks since the move, and I've decided to drop in on Rob and Jayne, to see if they're keeping up with their audacious schedule. Morning. - Oh, hi. How are you going? - How are you? - Good to see ya. - Breathe out. - I know ` it's here. Hey? - It's here. How's the schedule looking? - Yeah, well, I think we're, what, roughly about three weeks behind, so I think we're pretty resigned to the fact that we won't be in by the wedding, but we're hopeful for Christmas. - Oh, that's a shame. - It's not the end of the world. - I mean, we're not gonna stop trying, but, no, we're, sort of, resigned to the fact that it is what it is ` can't control Mother Nature. So if it happens, it happens; if it doesn't, it doesn't. - Now, standing here, I can't help but notice that you've got all sorts of sketches and that going up on the wall. You've, you know, really got a plan for how this is all coming together. - It's hers. - Oh yeah. I think what you can see there is a wedding seating chart, so that... - Oh, I see ` the tables for your wedding. - Yeah. This is the best place to get it done. - Right. - And we can look at it to decide if we like it, see if we need to move people around or not. - Excellent. - Which one's the trouble table? - The ones in orange. - The ones in orange! - (LAUGHTER) There's no sign of any bricks yet, but I'm keen to see how the inside is looking. - Welcome to the kitchen. Now, this is something to show emotion about. - (LAUGHS) Well, what sort of emotion? Because you're gonna keep this, though, right? - Yeah, that was the original plan. But unfortunately winter was a lot wetter than what we had expected. The MDF hasn't come through as well, so now I'm getting a new kitchen. - Is Rob on board with that? - So, my brother said, 'Put a new kitchen in.' Rob's dad said put a new kitchen in, and then a family friend said, 'Nah, it's not worth keeping ` 'put a new kitchen in.' So I think four opinions, and we've changed his mind ` we're getting a new kitchen. - He got absolutely ganged up on. - Yeah. - There was a secret WhatsApp group. - Absolutely. - (BOTH LAUGH) Welcome to the master bedroom. Isn't it beautiful? - That is a view. Is this gonna be all window? - Yeah, like, all big doors through here, so it will be absolutely beautiful. We'll wake up to this every morning. - There's a lot to do, but these two aren't letting a long list get in the way of creating their dream home. You know, with the amount of work still left to be done here, it was always gonna be ambitious for Rob and Jayne to be in before their wedding day, which is in just a couple of months' time. However, with their new goalposts of being in before Christmas sneaking up on us, I also wonder if that might be slipping between their fingers. It's been over a year since Jayne and Rob moved their huge 260-square-metre home, just 30km from Christchurch through to their Darfield family farm. It was a daring move for the young couple to take on ` it's big, it's brick, and it was just months before their wedding. So I can't wait to see if, brick by brick, they are now closer and closer to completing their forever home. Oh my goodness. Wow. I didn't expect this. This simply looks fantastic. Brick by brick, all the way. Rob, Jayne, hey. - Hi. Good to see ya. - How are ya? - Great. How are you? - I'm good. I'm good. And I'm overwhelmed by this, uh, vision behind me. Wow. First impressions are that it looks like serious progress has been made. The bricks are on, and there's a new deck. Well, more than one. This is cracking. The brick works. - It works. I think we're really glad with the choice that we've made around the brick. You know, looking at it now, I can't imagine the house with anything else. - You happy with the grout? - Yeah. - Yeah. Great grout recommendation. that was. - (ALL CHUCKLE) - Good. Well, I can just see already the huge amount of work that's gone into this place. And I know that when we caught up last time, you were about three weeks behind schedule. How did things turn out in the great wash-up? - Yeah, well, I think we had to do some work right on harvest. - Yeah, right through harvest was, sort of... Yeah. The three-week delay put us back. And so we were trying to get all the Gib up right in the middle of harvest. And it was a long process. - Yeah. We had to squeeze a wedding in all that. - And let me offer my congratulations to you. So the wedding's obviously happened in the middle of that all. - It was nice to stop and not work on the house and, I don't know, go get married. - Yeah. - And, yeah, really, I guess, reflect on how lucky we are to have each other and have a house and be able to, actually, do this together and still love each other at the end of it. It's been a journey. We supported each other through it and just so grateful to be here now, with Rob and moving into our forever home. - And do you have an idea of how much the renovation has cost you in total? - Too much. (CHUCKLES) - Yeah. - Right. So the renovation has gone over. - What do reckon, about 20% over? - Yeah. - But you've ended up with a few new bells and whistles out there. - We have. What a wonderful new kitchen! And we've also got new bathrooms as well, so I'm quite excited about that. - I bet you are. - Yeah. Did you wanna go have a look? - Yes, I do. Look at this. - Welcome to the kitchen. - Brand new kitchen! - Yeah. - Amazing. The kitchen's been completely transformed, and I thought they were just going to replace a few doors ` they have gone a lot further than that. - All the MDF bottoms of all the cabinets had swollen. We couldn't using any of them, which is a bit disappointing, but it's pretty nice result at the end of it all. - Jayne's sort of folded her arms and taken half a step back there. And I did notice that you used the word 'we'. But was Rob always part of the 'we', originally? - Took a bit of convincing. I even let you choose the handles. - Yeah. - (LAUGHS) - One of the few inputs I did have on the on the kitchen, which was quite cool. - This is such a smart operation, right ` make him feel like he's involved. And then what do you know? Brand new kitchen. - Yeah. Take him on the journey. As long as I keep making dinner, right? - (LAUGHTER) - So, Jayne, two ovens. - Yeah, one for Christmas and one for everyday use. - It's nice, though, knowing that you guys are gonna have big family get-togethers on Christmas. - Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. - Yeah. - Finally being able to host Christmas at our house will be a treat, eh? - Yeah, it will be good. Yeah. - So, Jayne, is this the favourite part of the house? - I think this kind of entire space is the favourite part of the house. - Blowing that wall out and opening it right up for the double stackers has really, really come together quite nicely. - Well, I remember standing under the house with you guys, looking up, and that was the aspiration then to take that wall out, and you've done it. Let's see what other improvements have been made. Oh, you're so lucky to have those two separate living areas. - Yeah. No, it flows together quite nicely. - You won't know what to do with yourselves, after living with the in-laws, and now being in here and being able to spread yourselves out. - Yeah. - It's nice to have places for all our stuff again. - Yeah. - And Rob can come in here and watch his movies or play his PlayStation, and I can just close the doors and potter out here in the quiet. - Yeah, it'll be good, eh? Yeah. - Or, of course, Rob could be in here enjoying that incredible view out the windows. - Yeah, I mean, it's pretty spectacular, hey? - It's not just the views that are spectacular ` the new bathrooms are killer; like the kitchen, nice and modern. So here's your bedroom. - Yeah. - This is great. It's such a departure from what it was. And obviously you've opened this up. Look at the view! This is what it's all about. - It's what it's all about. - It's so nice, that fresh Canterbury air coming in here. (SIGHS) I feel like I've already got a cup of tea in my hand and it's first thing in the morning. This is amazing. - She's bloody beaut out here. - Bloody beaut. Perfect. This home has literally come back together brick by brick. I wonder how many they actually used. It was the first move I'd been involved with that had bricks. It's been great to see it come to life. How many do you reckon you got through? - Six. So, there was seven pallets, and there's about half left. - OK. - I just know the bill. - (LAUGHTER) - You just know the bill of it. - Speaking of money, it turns out Jayne and Rob spent an all-up price of $195,000 on the house and relocation, but I think they miscalculated the brick count. Well, can I just put it to you that perhaps you've got, uh, six and a half pallets, and can we add one more to the list? - (BOTH LAUGH) - Brilliant. - Oh that's fantastic. - Oh, that's pretty cool. - It's a doorstop. - Oh, that's perfect. - There you go. - Especially for that nor'wester wind down here, hey? - Oh, thank you very much for that. - Well, Jayne and Rob have triumphed. This place is a credit to them both. I mean, look at it. It looks like it's already been here for quite some time. It's solid, bold and beautifully fit for purpose. You know, seasons will come, and seasons will go, but this farmhouse, this will be here, standing the test of time. Captions by Faith Hamblyn.