We didn’t have a septic tank so while all the building of the bathrooms was going on I asked Ross Norman the digger man to come and create a temporary septic tank for us. Actually, it was really just a long drop concept.
It was not long before Ross had dug a shallow trench between the house and the top of the driveway.
Greg the plumber had already plumbed up the pipe work under the house for the three new toilets so all we needed to do was hook the pipes leading to the temporary long drop, and we were all done!
This was Ross’s design. It worked so well. The holes were massively deep and wide. The idea was that when one hole filled up the overflow would flow into the next hole.
As you can see from the photos, we covered the holes with old ply and then a sheet of plastic and then covered this up with plants that we dragged in clumps over the top.
This meant that when we needed to get a tanker in to empty them, we’d just drag the clumps of plants off, take the plastic and ply off, do the empty, and put it all back together again.
It worked so well. We used this for two years with guests coming and going.
Waste water from the showers, kitchen sink and washing machine was piped into a sink hole over the bank at the front of the property in the bush. There was a filter attached to the pipe to filter out bits of food so as to not attract rats. Rat bait stations were positioned all around the area, just in case.
We had to be ingenious at every stage, finding cheap but effective ways of doing things.
You can see from these pictures how it worked. There is a pipe going into the first hole. There is a another length of short pipe between the two holes. Waste would drop into the first hole. When the first hole filled up, the overflow would flow through the short length of pipe into the second hole.
When they were both filled, we’d have to get a truck in to empty them.
I was up at Oke regularly so would make a point of checking the levels to make sure we never had an over flow and sewerage pouring down the driveway!
Within a few weeks of installation, the grass where we’d dug the trench had healed and you could hardly tell this long drop even existed.
Brilliant work Ross!
Looking much tidier now.
On the previous pages, it all started to come together. Ken did a genius of a job marrying the new structure in with the old, especially where we had to join in with the existing kitchen.
There was a lot of clever work done there. Good work Ken!
You can see where the existing door frame is.
We eventually moved the door to the other side of the wall to where it is today.
In this picture, the framing went up quickly.
Ken’s son Joel came up often, as did his son Caleb, and they helped.
In this photo Andy, Joel and Ken are working away.
The framing at this stage was finally married in with the existing kitchen.
Ken does everything to a very high standard. When the council came and inspected, they made this comment. It had been done properly.
Left to right, clockwise.
Joel, lending a hand.
Me, cutting some timber under instruction from Ken. No ear muffs. Very bad!
Bottom left, Ken working on the second storey.
Bottom right, it was all starting to shape up nicely.
We had a water well drilling company who visited to create a bore. They drilled outside the kitchen window for 4-5 hours, found nothing, and went home! The rock, they said, was too thick.
Russell Goodall (Eleanor’s husband) came up to help with security once, and helped dig a drain! Thanks so much Russ!
Bottom left, Bill Hotter’s wife Lorna came up once too! What a lovely lady. She’s in the photo with Renee Tobin who helped us so much.
Sometimes we had wonderful people come for a short time and help, like Kerry (middle) and Caleb McKay (left), and of course Ken McKay. When Kerry came we painted the French doors on the bathroom nearest the clothesline, and helped varnish all the macrocarpa vanity tops in the bathrooms. You did a brilliant job Kerry! Thank you my friend.
This is Renee Tobin who was so generous in so many ways. She donated the black heater in the lounge, the security system, and the wicker furniture in the lounge (plus other stuff!). So so generous Renee!
Tee and his mate must have gone home by this stage as they were not in the photos anywhere.
I had to arrange to have the windows for the top storey made in Maungataroto.
Those bi-fold windows have been such a success. Many guests who stay there say they love those windows.
They were painted by Billy who did such an amazing job. Thanks Billy!
I found the lead light windows in downstairs bathrooms in a second hand shop, and the French doors downstairs were bought on Trade Me. Below on the right is a photo of Russell and Kerry who came several times all the way from Napier. Russ also cooked for us several times and we loved it. He was an awesome chef! The other dude in the photo is Kerry, who also helped so much. These guys had other things to do in their home towns but they came and helped anyway! Incredible.
Top left: Caleb, Joel (Ken McKay’s sons), Kerry, and Russell, goofing around.
Bottom left: this dear fellow from the Lands and Survey Department came out for a whole day in his own time and surveyed Lot 3 of the land we own. He was not a believer but liked what we are doing so helped us. Amazing.
Bottom right: This dear man was the foreman of the works going on down the road at the Russian billionaire’s house ($65m). He personally donated a whole truck load of the billionaires precious top soil. No wonder our plants are doing so well!
The back of Lodge in 2015. Notice the car park. See how much it’s changed compared to today.
This is a photo of the Lodge pretty much near the very beginning. Spot the difference with the photo on the next page.
Building the deck at the back in 2013
Ken Martin and his wife Margi came up to help with the building of the back deck. Thank you so much guys! Ken is the brother of Eleanor Goodall, who is the treasurer of the Christian trust which administers Oke Bay Lodge. Ken McKay, of course, headed up the project. In fact, there has been very little what was built or restored without Ken being there. Bill Hotter, my other ‘regular’ was not part of this project either. Really, it was Ken, and myself who did this one. All the timber came from Whangarei and I remember having to fight like crazy for the best price. In the end, the manager of Placemakers, as a new manager, wanted to put his stamp on Whangarei so gave us a ridiculously low price to show his other competitors who was boss! All timber merchants in Whangarei knew they were all competing for this job. It was a great result for everyone!
At this stage, the bathrooms had been built. The first step with building the back deck was installing the piles, which took a while! There were lots of them. We had to dig all the holes then concrete each one in, making sure they were all level.
Ken and I argued about what was best for the gardens and in the end he won out, and I am now glad that was so. All the boxed gardens were done with H4 timber and all the timber which is exposed to soil is lined with heavy duty plastic so these gardens should last forever.
Notice that the second water tank has not been installed yet. So the bank behind the tank has not been excavated, as it is today 2022.
Ken McKay and Ken Martin build the deck. So so grateful to these men for their work.
We used really high grade timber for these decks even though we didn’t have much money! God provided. Ultimately, that’s the answer to why a lot of things which were expensive ended up being paid for.
What other explanation is there?
This is the deck in 2022. The umbrella I purchased off Trade Me. Actually, it was part of a contra deal. The owners of the umbrella were owners also of a play centre and they didn’t want the umbrella any more so they swapped it for a weekend up at Oke Bay. In this photo Ken McKay made the table and chairs. The back deck area is now a little tropical paradise!
Fitting out the bathrooms in 2013
Ken Mckay led a team of people who built the bathrooms, but it was Greg McDuff and Craig and Karen Horen who made the bathrooms happen. Greg did all the plumbing work and donated the showers. Craig donated all his labour to install all the tiles. Oh my goodness, what a fabulous job these guys did! So generous!!! Literally everyone loves those bathrooms! Not only do they look amazing, but they are just so
easy to clean and maintain. A lot of people did the painting. Liz from Kerikeri, who was part of the team which installed the retaining wall, was the main painter. She was a perfectionist! I love those kind of people!
Bill Hotter painted the windows. They were absolutely perfectly painted! You are a legend Bill!
Paul from Napier helped with the downstairs bathrooms, and Phil Harwood finished them off with their final coats. We bought all the antique door handles off Trade Me and Ken McKay fitted them. Bill Hotter painted the doors. Kerry from Napier and Russell from Napier varnished all the Macrocarpa vanity tops. Thank you so much you guys! Ken McKay fitted them in place. Good job Ken!
This is the loveliest man, Greg McDuff, the plumber. Greg sacrificed so much to not only do all the plumbing in the whole lodge over a 10 year period, but he paid for all the materials. Sometimes Greg and I would just travel to Oke together so we could talk about life, heart to heart. I am deeply grateful to God for you Greg and for your friendship (Hebrews 6:10)
Greg McDuff
Greg and his side kick working away in the early days. Looks like they are getting the water sorted going into the water tanks from the gutters. Greg was paying his friend to come to Oke for the day. Hard to believe but true.
That oh so familiar van - Charlie’s Plumbing!
The Lodge was cold in winter because we had no heating so Greg wandered around doing his work in his onesie!
One day, we had to get the bath up the stairs.
Yes, Greg and I got that bath up the stairs!
Hard to believe but true. We did it inch by inch. Seriously it took us 15 minutes or so. Such a strain.
There was no balustrade at the top then so that made it easier. The bath was a contra deal with an engineer in Onehunga who swapped it for a weekend at Oke.
Tony and his family have been back several times. Anytime I need something engineered, Tony does the job and I give him and his family time at the Lodge.
It works so well. That bath has been such a winner! All the ladies love it.
And it looks so good in the house, because the style suits the period.
Greg would have made 20 or so trips in total. Auckland to Oke is a long way! 3 hours at least. All the floors in the bathrooms were lined with a special liner and screwed to the floor. Then the floors were all sealed with a special waterproofing paint. Finally, they were tiled. Greg did all the work before the tiler arrived, including installing the showers. When you think about it, he did a Mount Everest amount of work up there. How did you do it Greg?? So many trips, so much expense, so much time away from your business in Auckland! So much time away from your family. And everything Greg did was done properly. Just amazing.
Over on the next page, Greg painstakingly had to nail a special board on the floors of the bathrooms to get them ready for the tiler. These bathrooms were done to the highest standard. Everyone who worked on them did a really high quality job. Phew!
One of the downstairs bathrooms 2022
Craig Horan, the tiler
That’s Craig on the right, and his side kick on the left
Lucky the back deck was built as this became a vital work area for Craig to do what he needed to do.
Craig lives with his wife Karen and their children in Maungatapere. He would have made a dozen trips to Oke to do the tiling. He did a high quality job. Visitors often comment about how lovely the bathrooms are. Craig also put on his dive gear and installed the buoy for our mooring out in front of the lodge. You can see from the photo that it’s a professionally made commercial grade mooring! Thank you so much Craig and Karen for your huge contribution to the completion of the Lodge. We are so grateful to you.
The visit of Ron and his team from the Christian Commune in South Auckland
I completed a theology degree at the Bible College Of New Zealand 1987 – 1990. In that time I met a couple called Ian and Shereen. They owned a dairy farm in South Auckland. When Ian graduated, he became a Presbyterian Minister. After a few years, he decided to quit with the Presbyterians, and he started a Christian commune on his farm. There are about 30 people living there. The farm is immensely valuable
now (upward of $20m), as it’s right on the edge of suburbia. Auckland is ballooning out in all directions, and Ian’s farm is the only logical choice for the next big housing development. I was talking with Ian one day about what we were doing in the Bay of Islands, and he offered to send a group of men up to us for a week to help us. They were such fun and such characters! The
group was led by Ron, an elder on the commune. He sported a big white beard and when I looked at Ron I thought to myself “Wow! That’s what I imagined Moses would look like!” We were so grateful for their help.
Renee and Ron the leader
The boyz enjoying a break!
Renee, Paul, and David
Russell, Sarah, and Grant
Restoring and modernising the kitchen in 2014
Restoring the kitchen was a major job. We needed a big team to do this. I approached an amazing Christian organisation called Mobile Mission Maintenance (MMM)1 to help us, and they gracioulsy said they would. If you Google this organisation, you will learn all about them. Cut a long story short, they sent a team
1 Mobile Mission Maintenance is a Christian Organisation which reaches out to help Christians with building projects.
of people to help us. They stayed two weeks and we had a fabulous time. The team were all highly skilled. Yes, there were experienced builders on the MMM team, but also a cabinet maker. This was crucial as the macroparpa kitchen top had to be fitted properly, the sink cut out of the bench top, and lots of other tricky stuff. MMM did a brilliant job, as you can see. There was just so much work to bring the kitchen from where is was at the beginning to where it is today. There was a lot of electrical work to do as well. The electrician Matt Harvey installed a new fuse box. Oh Matt, you were
so patient! The electrics were a bit of a mess but Matt made them like new! The restoration of the kitchen project was one project where Ken McKay was NOT involved. I was so pleased about that because I wanted Ken to know that he didn’t have to do everything and that God would provide others! i.e. the visit of MMM took some of the weight off Ken’s shoulders. Lorraine Wilson from Auckland kindly donated the kitchen. What an incredible gift and just so generous! Thank you Lorraine!
THE MMM TEAM HAVING A DAY OFF IN RUSSELL
Allan, the cabinet maker
James the builder
Eleanor Goodall our cook
Bill Hotter the legend
Random tourist
Allan’s wife Josie
Ian the all rounder
Dave, the team leader
The Kitchen in 2008
At the end of the MMM visit
Allen and I are taking out the old kitchen. The range-hood was a contra deal with Smeg NZ. They had an ‘employee of the year’ competition that they were running and the prize was a weekend up at Oke. It was a win/win. Likewise with the tap at the sink that delivers sparkling cold water. The machine under the sink which delivers this water was also a contra deal.
Bottom left, this is what it looked liked when all the cabinets had been removed and the scrim taken off the back wall. The team had actually taken the boards off the back wall as well to expose the framing.
There were limited power points in the kitchen so we had to install a whole lot more.
Remember, the bathrooms had been installed by this time. So what we had to do was marry the new kitchen into the new bathroom off the kitchen. The photo with me in it on the previous page shows framing up the doorway between the kitchen and the new bathroom. Nothing was square in the old building so adding the new to the old was very tricky! Just look at those huge solid Kauri planks Billy is holding!
Top left: after all the kauri planks were removed. Bottom left: Ian, one of the MMM team. Just look at all the wiring in the background. It was Matt Harvey our electrician who fixed all that. The other photo is of Billy sanding the walls.
Lining the kitchen with gib.
It was my job to sand the ceilings! They were a major as there were lots of stains on them and lots of marks. They were all Kauri though. We had to use a special paint on these ceilings so that when they were painted the marks underneath didn’t come
Sanding back the ceiling in the kitchen was a horrendous job.
through. That scarf around my neck was actually a mask which I used to stop me from breathing in all the dust. On the previous page, James and Dave are installing the gib board.
Great photos of Dave (above) and James (right). James is helping with the ceilings. They were a major job! On the next page, once the gib was on, it started to take shape. At the very beginning, we had to make a decision about whether the kitchen should be modernised (as it is today) or keep it old fashioned and original. Keeping it old
fashioned would have been too big a job. Someone before us had tried to get the paint off the Kauri paneling by using acid or something like that. It hadn’t worked, and the panels were all damaged. Gibbing the kitchen became the only choice.
Starting to come together
Making the kitchen bench
On the previous page, I had to get the macrocarpa wood tops for the bench made in Helensville Auckland. They all had to be made to measure then carted up to the Lodge. Absolutely everything about the restoration was a drama in terms of carting things all the way from Auckland or Whangarei to Oke Bay.
In the photo on the previous page, Allen and Ian are cutting out the shape of the kitchen sink from the bench top, getting ready to fit it.
These guys were clever and they did such a great job!
In the photo on the left, Kauri splash backs were installed on the back of the bench. We used recycled 140 year old timber to do this. From memory, we used some of the thick planks which came off the walls. If we could save any of the old Kauri and re-use it, we did.
Bottom left, Bill Hotter and Allen from MMM. Bottom right, Dave fits the facings on the French doors.
The photo above is the only photo I have of Matt Harvey the electrician. He did all the electrics in the Lodge and never gave us a bill. He was like an angel to us. As I said before, he was seeking God. He was most interested in the mystics, like Thomas A Kempis, so I got him a copy of this book and posted it to him. He loved it. He was
a deep thinker, a philosopher, and such a lovely man. I absolutely loved it when Matt came to do a job because we’d often have such great discussions. The other photo is of Matt’s son, also a sparky, who came to help. Matt must have been paying him.
Matt Harvey, the amazing electrician and his son (right)
After the first coat of paint. I was so excited to see the change!
First coat of varnish on the kitchen bench top
I was so particular about the bench top. I absolutely love timber tops. They are so beautiful and I wanted this one to look right. Everyone put so much time and care into making it. We were so blessed with the weather that it was fine and still, which make for perfect varnishing and painting conditions outside.
In the photo below, Billy is working away sanding something. What a phenomenal help Bill has been all the way through. Thank you Billy!
We went to church on Sunday and met the couple in the photo on the top left. They came back to the Lodge for lunch and gave us a $1000 donation for the work. What a blessing!
Bottom left. Each morning, after breakfast, I took the MMM guys through teaching on evangelism. Only one of their group really responded and that was James. I think the rest really just politely endured it :)
Bottom right. Once the benches and cabinets were in, I found a floor sander in Whangarei called Michael who was happy to do a contra deal to sand and polyurethane the floors in the kitchen. When he came to have his weekend in the Lodge, it rained all weekend and there was a power cut the whole weekend. I gave him another weekend.
The photo on the next page is Allan’s house truck which he and his wife and daughter stayed in out on the road for the two weeks they were up at Oke. Local Maori complained to council but council did nothing.
Alan and his wife had a house bus and were parked up the road. Locals tried to kick up a fuss about it.
In these photos, Ian on the left and Bill on the right fix the gib board in the bunk room upstairs. MMM also fixed the gib in the blue and brown rooms upstairs.
They were such a blessing and we made such a big leap forward when they visited. Their efforts were a massive encouragement to everyone else working on the property. Thank you so much MMM!
James from MMM and Bill Hotter
Some of the many miracles along the way.....
The dictionary defines a miracle as “a remarkable event or development that brings very welcome consequences.” We have had many many miracles in the restoration of Oke Bay Lodge! In fact, I can’t think of too many things which happened which were not miracles. The financial squeeze has always been on me. I poured all my financial resources into purchasing the property and at the same time was engaged in full time Christian ministry. The truth is, I didn’t have the income to pay for the restoration of the Lodge. This is the only reason I have taken up selling Real Estate
in Auckland. This was one of the only jobs which will allow a person to work their own hours. As such, I could juggle my time between restoring the Lodge, Christian ministry, and Real Estate. It’s worked pretty well, but there have been times when the income to do something at the Lodge was just not there. There is also a small mortgage on Oke Bay Lodge which needed to be paid every month. Once or twice I have been flying really close to the wind where it looked like I wouldn’t be able to pay the mortgage payment for a particular month, then something miraculous
would happen. Or we needed something to do with the Lodge paid for, like a pile of timber, and something miraculous would happen. Or we needed some Nikau palms lifted onto a truck, and a hiab would suddenly turn up and do the job. Or we needed a bill paid, and the money would miraculously appear. Or we needed someone with a particular skill set, and they would miraculously turn up. I think every person who has worked on the Lodge is a miracle, from the least to the greatest. Really, the list is endless.
One month in 2014, the mortgage was due to be paid in one week’s time, and the money was not there. I began to feel very anxious as I couldn’t think of a way to get the money in time. Then my phone rang, and a dear friend called Nelson phoned from Hamilton. “Julian” he said “I have a couple of paintings I would like to donate to your work. I don’t really need them, and you could sell them.”
It turned out, these were originals painted by a famous NZ artist. Cut a long story short, Nelson couriered them to Auckland, and I hastily started to phone around art galleries all over the country to find someone who would be interested in buying them. Two days before my mortgage was due, a Queenstown gallery phoned and said they would buy them. I had them professionally wrapped, and couriered. They
arrived in Queenstown the day my mortgage was due, and the gallery transferred the funds into my bank account the same day. Our banks were compatible, so the money from the gallery appeared in my bank account an hour later, and BNZ was paid. That was 4 pm on a Friday, and the cut off for my mortgage payment was 5 pm. Down to the wire.
Thank you for hearing God speak to you about those paintings Nelson and responding. I don’t think you realise how crucial your obedience was.
Another time it became obvious that we needed a trailer. I had absolutely no money to buy one. We found one on Trade Me that would do the job, but didn’t have the money to pay for it. The trailer looked ugly, but it was big and wide – just what we needed. So I phoned a good friend Brett Whitely in Hamilton and asked him to buy it for us, and he did! I never find it easy to ask for money, because it’s very humbling, but when one is desperate, pride is thrown to the wind. Thank you Brett! This trailer has done literally over a hundred trips between Auckland and Oke Bay and it’s still going. One time I took it in for a WOF. When the guys inspected it, they told me to go and buy a lotto ticket! Laughing, I said “Why?” “The bolts holding the body to the chassis have all sheared off, and basically you’ve been driving along with the body about to completely separate from the chassis!” Brett’s generosity enabled a lot of other things to get done! Thanks soooooo much Brett. BTW, my car is another miracle. It’s towed loads way over its capacity many times, and to date has done 405,000 km.
Notice the flat tires on the trailer in the top right photo! One day on one trip, one of the tires popped with a full load of mulch on board! That was a drama getting that sorted, I can tell you.
Another miracle I remember well – I am always looking on Trade Me for large mature Nikau palms which people want removed from their properties. Well, I found someone in Howick, a lovely Chinese man who wanted some large Nikaus taken out so he could plant other things in his garden. I arranged for a digger to dig them out and leave them on the lawn for us to pick up. Bill Hotter and I drove from Oke Bay to Howick to pick them up with a little truck we had hired in Whangarei.
When we got to Auckland, we realised the root balls on the trees were way too big to lift by hand. We needed a hiab which is a truck with a powerful arm on it capable of lifting huge weights. It was about 12 noon when we came to this realization. Bill and I scratched our heads thinking ‘where are we going to get a Hiab?’ We were stumped so we decided to go and get some lunch where we’d mull it over and brainstorm. When we came out of the lunch bar, a hiab truck had just pulled up beside our car, and the driver, a lovely Island guy, was having lunch in the cab. So I went up to him and asked him what he was doing for the next hour and did he have time to help us. He was only too pleased to help! I couldn’t believe it. He said he had two hours to kill before his next job. Bill and I felt like we’d won lotto.
The hiab truck driver (left) followed us back to the place where the nikaus were and he lifted them onto our truck for us. When we got to Oke Bay, we had just finished installing the retaining wall so the digger was still there to unload the trees off the truck. When transplanted, all those Nikaus survived, and are still going strong today, 2022. What a miracle! All glory to God.
Chinese
donated
The lovely
man who
his Nikaus, Bill Hotter, and the miracle Hiab driver.
Top right, Bill in amongst the Nikaus. We used commercial glad wrap to wrap the root balls. I got this glad wrap by just driving around the industrial area near where the Nikaus were and looked for some industry which was using it. I called in and got some dirt cheap.
Once the root balls were wrapped, we filled them full of water so effectively the trees were sitting in a vase of water. Perfect.
Below left, Bill lying on our truck and trailer.
Below right, the hiab driver used strops to grab each tree. He was very clever and a joy to watch how he did things.
Top left, one of the trees being lifted onto our little truck.
Bottom left, Bill goofing around.
Bottom right, one of the Nikaus being taken up the driveway by Zane, on the loader we had hired to help do the retaining wall.
Zane was another miracle. I put an advert on Trade Me for people who wanted to have a working holiday in the Bay of Islands putting up a retaining wall. We were to start on Saturday in October, 2015. Zane phoned me Friday night from Christchurch.
I felt to pay for his air ticket to come and so picked him up at Auckland airport on Saturday morning.
Turns out, he was one of Christchurch’s most skillful digger drivers and we couldn’t have done the job without him. Really, that was another huge miracle.
Lydia Wilson is another miracle.
I had another HUGE financial need in 2017 and God touched Lydia to meet that need.
Lydia is in a wheelchair but such an active vibrant Christian. She is the person who has it in her heart to get a Zipped booklet into the hands of every church leader in New Zealand.
Lydia and her mum and dad are not only paying for the postage, but also helping to pack the booklets and posting them.
It’s a huge vision and so vital for NZ.
Thank you the Wilsons!
The front door was a major project too. I struggled for ages to find a genuine Kauri front door on Trade Me that was the right size and the right look. Anything remotely like we wanted was $4-5000 and even then they were not the right size.
In the end I found an old Kauri door down in the lower North Island that was advertised for a few hundred dollars on Trade Me. It was exactly the size we needed BUT it had no glass. Ken also found after
The making of the front door
he’d picked it up (on the Kapiti coast) that it needed straightening and quite a lot of repairs. From memory, his son Caleb also helped in the process. Thank you Caleb and Ken! All the repairs and sanding done were carried out at Ken’s place on the Kapiti coast. When it was fully repaired, we had to measure exactly the size of the glass we needed (from memory, for some reason we needed a cardboard template made of the size), and had the lead lights designed and made in Auckland. Lorraine Wilson helped with the design and choosing
the patterns and colours so they fitted the rest of the colours of the house. She did such a great job.
A real genius with colour. Thank you Lorraine. The whole door cost us about $2500 in materials. Ken and Lorraine and Caleb donated all their labour for free. What an incredible job they all did. All these people with all these amazing skills and abilities. Fitting lead lights into doors, so I found out, takes incredible skill, but Ken pulled it off. Hope you enjoy these photos.
This was the front door as it was when it arrived with Ken all the way from Kapiti coast. Caleb and Ken had pretty much sanded it down and prepared it for lead lights to go in.
For the next few days, Ken and his team worked on this old door to install all the glass which had been pre-made in Auckland. Really, it was such a huge job and sooooooooo involved. I had no idea how much work it would be!
Top right,first putty had to be applied.
Bottom left: Russell and Billy watch on attentively while the Master works...ha ha
Bottom right: Ken, all concentration...
Top left, Billy helped with the puttying
Bottom left: Reinforcing rods had to be meticulously cut into the frame so that if a strong wind hit the window (or a ball for example) the rods would take the impact.
Bottom right: The lead light window came with dozens of wire ties attached to it. Actually, they’d been welded to every join on the window. These brass ties were used to secure the reinforcing rods to the window.
The whole system is very cleverly thought out by those who design lead light windows.
From memory, we worked on this door for two whole days!
This is a good picture showing how the brass wires welded to the window were twisted around the reinforcing rods to give the window great support. It took literally ages to tie them all off but Ken did it.
Top left, the door didn’t quite fit the existing door frame so Ken had to widen the doorway to make it fit.
Bottom left: He used a chain saw to widen the doorway!
Bottom right: Dear friend Russell from Napier watches on.
Top left, Ken set up an elaborate structure so that he had a platform to reach the high parts of the doorway safely.
Bottom right: I remember we lifted the door into place in the evening. It was extremely heavy! That bit was unforgettable. Also I remember Ken looking at it for ages, as in the photo, to make sure it was perfectly straight and in place correctly.
The pieces of horizontal wood top and bottom were screwed to the walls of the house to stop the door falling out over- night!
I was so excited to see this door finally go in after all the work that went in to it. I nearly cried!
This was the front door in 2008. The windows were still in. It was really rough! The front door was just a bit of old plywood.
Installing the retaining wall at the front and the new Septic tank
October 2015
Installing the new retaining wall at the front of the property was by far the biggest single project we had undertaken. The old wall had failed.
To be honest, I found the thought of building the new one terrifying! Someone kindly loaned me the money to pay for the materials for the wall, but not for the labour. So I put an advert in Trade Me like the first one I had inserted in 2012 which invited people for a holiday in the Bay of Islands in return for food and lodgings. I have searched everywhere for the exact wording that I used in the advert, but couldn’t find anything. The only thing I could find was a template reply to whoever responded (next page). Why was this project scary?
There were a number of reasons. First, it was a BIG project and there was not only a lot of money involved, but also a lot of people. It was a $200k job.
Second, I’d never met most of the people who were coming. Sure, I had Ken McKay, Chris Moore and Bill Hotter (capable friends) to rely on, but the rest were volunteers. Really, I knew little about their skills and their personalities. I was only going on what they said in their emails or what they told me over the phone.
Third, I would have to manage the day to day living of the whole group, and make sure that everyone was fed well, had work to do, and that the job was done properly.
Fourth, I had to make sure all the materials we needed were there and on time.
Fifth, I had to believe for good weather. Some people were coming from a long way away, even booking flights. What if all the materials arrived on trucks
and the weather turned sour and we couldn’t work? I would end up feeding everyone and we’d be inside all day watching TV and at the end they’d all go home! It would cost me a few grand to feed and entertain 12 strangers for two weeks at the lodge.
Sixth, I had to deal with the council. They were always a handful with all their red tape and bureaucracy.
Seventh, I had just started selling Real Estate and had to keep that going in the background.
Eighth, someone had volunteered to cook. The cook is a key person. What if they were no good at cooking?
I’d have to cook! I didn’t want the other volunteers cooking as I needed them on the job. I wanted the cook to roster people to dry dishes and wash dishes. What happened if this was all too much for the cook? I’d have to do it!
Ninth, we were hiring big machines like diggers and a dump truck. Machines are dangerous. What if someone was injured? Did we have anyone to operate them?
Tenth, 12-20 people working hard all day would mean ten sets of clothing to be washed each day. That’s a lot of washing. What if we ran out of water? Who was going to hang all the washing out? Bring it in? Give it back to all the right people? What if all the underpants got mixed up? Ha ha.
I guess it was scary because there were so many unknowns. What if the volunteers didn’t get on with each other? What happens if they weren’t up to it in their skills sets? What if one or two of them were mad? (Actually, in the end, they were all a bit mad in their own funny ways!).
As the date for starting drew closer, I distinctly remember giving myself a talking to about being brave : “Julian, you can do it. Be brave. You can do it. Be courageous. God is with you!” and so on. Over and over I would give myself a good talking to.
Actually, in the Bible the first chapter of the book of Joshua God encourages Joshua several times to be courageous and brave. I was encouraged by that. “Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear of be afraid. For the Lord your God is with you” (Joshua 1:8)
I had no choice not to complete this project. The retaining wall at Oke Bay had to be done sometime, so why not now. If not now, then when? I had to do it! Once I ordered the materials and paid for them, there was no turning back! Well, the following is pretty much what happened.
The first step was to get council consents to build the wall. In this respect Grant Stevens (next page) the engineer in Whangarei was amazing. He did all the drawings for the engineering of the wall and didn’t charge us. He came up with his lovely wife and took soil samples as part of the application to the Far North District Council. He was often on the phone to them batting for us.
Truly, he was our angel! Grant’s drawings were accepted by the council and we were granted a building consent to build the wall. Phew, what a relief! Ross Norman , the owner of Bonus Contractors in Russell, was hired to drill the holes for the retaining wall, and install them. He too did an amazing job.
Many people have commented about how the wall looks “well engineered” and “very straight and well aligned” and “what a beautiful wall” and so on.
Hi Chris
Firstly, thanks so much for answering the advert. We’d love to have you. You sound like a great all rounder.
However, because we only have room for 12 in the Lodge, the people we finally choose to come will depend on the skills they bring to the table. Having said that, I have got your email and phone so I’ll keep in touch.
The start date will be the 27th October through to the 8th November. You can come for part or all of that time. Over to you. There are so many things to do in the dates we have set but it looks like there will be a full house!
I am expecting it to be fun and furiously busy! We usually start work about 7:30 and go through to night fall each day so be prepared to eat well, sleep well, and work hard :)
If you “make the cut", and you have some basic tools, especially a hammer, please bring those.
Once again, thank you so much for offering your time and service. I see your heart! How awesome are you!! I’ll keep in contact with you via email between now and the 27th.
Things to bring if you come: sleeping bag pillow
sun screen insect repellent towel work clothes
Ok, that’s enough for now. Please keep those dates free, and get ready for the 27th.
Cheers
Julian 0274764430
All credit to Ross and his men. My plan was to have Ross install the poles before the volunteers arrived so that all the volunteers needed to do was install the retaining wall timber and back fill behind the wall.
The volunteers could never have installed those poles. Only seasoned pros could have done what they did. So, with a building consent in hand, Ross and his guys ready to go, we started! The date was October 2015. When one builds a retaining wall, things have to be done in order.
First, Ross cleared the land in front of the lodge where the wall was going to be placed. Next we had to decide how far out onto the existing driveway we could install the new wall.
Our goal was to increase the grass area at the top as much as possible. So after Ross cleared the land, we basically got a tin of spray paint and marked out where the wall was to go and where each pole was going to go.
Then we started drilling the holes. The poles had to be as deep in the ground as they were out of the ground.
The highest part of the wall, which was on the corner of the wall, down by the front gate, was 4m. The original driveway was way too wide, so we took some of that as well.
Just look how big the tree at the front was! It was huge, and blocked our view of the sea, so we trimmed it.
Some local Maori were very upset about this, claiming the tree was theirs.
As it turned out, so I discovered from my study of the history of the land, Maori lost ownership of this tree and the land on which it sits in 1937. In other words, local Maori had no basis for a grievance. They were just making stuff up on the fly.
This photo was taken after we’d trimmed the big Pohutukawa tree at the front. The tall tree at the front of the retaining wall looks like it’s blocking our view of the water, but really was not. Eventually we moved this tree to another part of the property and it survived.
The gate post with the gate on it would become the corner of the new retaining wall, so you can see how much ground we were going to gain with the new wall.
Eventually, the wall began to fail. You can see from this photo that it’s already developing a kink. It was way too small a wall in the first place anyway and was never going to do the job.
In the photo below, Ross Norman is holding a pole which is showing the exact height and position of the corner of the new retaining wall in relation to the old retaining wall. By installing the new wall, we reclaimed a huge amount of land, over doubling the grass area at the top. We also massively improved the view. The whole exercise was a grand success.
This shows how the old wall had failed.
To make way for the new wall, the scrub and rubbish plants at the front were cleared away which enabled us to plant nice fresh new natives i.e. Nikaus, Flax, and Kowhai. The latter two will attract Tui, my favourite native bird!
I chose Bougainvillea to grow up the wall because I felt we needed some spectacular colour in amongst all the native greenery.
Also, Bougainvillea love sunshine and heat, and where the wall is situated, this plant will get plenty of both.
When one looks around Rawhiti, it’s hard to see any colour anywhere, except green. Bring on the colour I say! $13k don’t like flowers, it seems.
Dave (one of the volunteers from Ron’s group who came up from South Auckland)is trying to fix up some of the broken down wall with me, Julian.
This was the retaining wall up the driveway before it was backfilled with soil. As soon as we back filled, the wall began to fail. You can see from the photo that there was a big hole in the corner of the wall where the previous owner of the land used to put all his green waste. So whatever grows in that corner is going to have lots of compost when their roots get to the bottom!
Bill and I tried to save the original retaining wall from failing by putting sheets of plywood along the inside edge of the wall, with a gap between the ply and the wall. We’d fill the gap with shingle. It didn’t work.
The old retaining wall up the driveway.
The new retaining wall Stage one, clearing the land
The picture shows Ross Norman (left) who was the digger driver and owner of Bonus contractors and his offsider. These two came initially to take out all the scrub in front of the old retaining wall.
Ross just unloaded his digger off the back of his struck and mowed into it! It was very dramatic. The power of his machine was unforgettable.
Maori kicked up a huge fuss. Council, in response to Maori, withdrew our Resource Consent. So for five years we had to fight to get it back, and eventually did, but the exercise cost $20k. Conclusion? Maori involvement in planning makes development very expensive. I believe it’s wrong. As I said, their basis for complaint was that the land we own was stolen. Council believed Maori, so I researched the history of the land and found it was never stolen. To do this, I had to take time off work. More lost time and money. We were guilty until proven innocent. Council didn’t investigate the validity of the Maori claims. They just believed them. We ended up paying the bill - $20k. It was a tragic waste of our hard earned time and money. Maori didn’t have to pay a cent. It made me very angry.
Thankfully, the weather was amazing. Just look how big that machine was!
The day the digger turned up, these guys turned up also. The guy in the middle of the photo is Jason who is a gib stopper. The other two are his helpers. I went through the yellow pages one day and asked gib stoppers randomly if they wanted to do a contra deal to come and gib stop the Lodge in return for staying with their families. Jason jumped at the opportunity. He and his family must have come up at least a half a dozen times. He’s a great guy and he did such a fabulous job!
We tried to save this pohutukawa tree by digging it out and transferring it to another part of the property. We did it!
It took quite an effort to get it out without damaging it too much, but Ross, who is so skillful, managed to do it.
Just look at the size of that bucket!
This is not an optical allusion. The bucket on this machine was just HUGE!
Well, we got the tree out!
Next we had to get it up the driveway...all so dramatic!
We planted it above the existing car park, and it’s still alive today and growing well!
Ross just worked his way along the wall to the end
Eventually all that was left to do was take away all the rubbish.
We only needed one full truck load of green waste. The whole job was very quick and clinical . I love to see progress. Stage one was complete which was clearing the bush to make way for the retaining wall. I was definitely nervous and excited at every stage. Once one stage was completed, I couldn’t wait for the next stage to start. It’s very fulfilling seeing a project through from start to finish, especially when everything goes well. I guess choosing the right people in the first place to do the job makes a huge difference. I did a lot of work asking around with locals to find out who the best digger driver was and Ross’s name came up over and over so he got the job. Definitely no regrets! He’s not just clever but also a lovely guy. We’ve become friends.
STAGE ONEJOB DONE...!
PHEW!
Look how much ground was gained by installing the new retaining wall. The new wall lines up with the green letter box.
Stage two, installing the retaining wall poles
The guy on the left (Rick Southey) was really the one who made sure the retaining wall was done just right. He was clever. He was very experienced, and a perfectionist. All the qualities I love ...ha ha. This photo was taken October 21, 2015. The weather was perfect! No wind, no rain. Cool.
The holes were drilled and then each of the poles carefully lifted into place. Each pole had a block of concrete at the bottom so that it was not touching the ground. Then concrete was poured all around it. This meant that the soil was not touching the pole anywhere i.e. to stop rotting. Look at the size of the poles compared with the size of the man.
This is a great photo to show how much of the existing driveway we took for the new front lawn! We went as far out into the drive as we possibly could. Notice how all the poles were carefully braced in place to make sure they were in just the right position before concrete was poured in the holes.
Bryce and Ross Norman discussing the wall. You can see how straight the wall is from this photo. You can also see all the bracing.
The engineer from Whangarei Bryce Lambert
The concrete was pumped by hose into each of the holes. The guys are spreading hay on the bare ground just to keep the dust down. We had such perfect weather. Look how beautifully lined up those poles are!
This is the company that pumped the concrete
Over the tree came the concrete. Just look at how straight the wall was! All in a beautiful line, like soldiers on parade.
This was the young guy who did the concrete pumping
The concrete bill for all the holes was $5000.
The concrete came out of the concrete truck and into a big bin on the pumping truck and was then pumped into the holes. I can’t remember how many truck loads of concrete we needed but it was quite a few!
This photo again shows how much ground we gained compared with where the old retaining wall used to be, and it also show how beautifully straight the poles were. From memory, I think we didn’t bother taking out the old retaining wall poles. We just buried them.
A great photo of Ross and the concrete pump guy!
Pumping the concrete was in full swing.
Half way through the building of this wall, just before the concrete was to be pumped into the holes, we had a bit of a drama.
One of the guys doing the wall noticed at the bottom of all the papers from council was a notice saying we did not have a resource consent.
Yes, we had a building consent, but not a resource consent.
I hurriedly phoned the council and spoke to the head of resource consents, Wayne Smith, a Maori. He looked up our file and said he didn’t have a problem with issuing the resource consent but needed the roading engineer’s sign off.
The next day we got this and over the phone Wayne
gave us the green light to proceed. My mistake was that I did not get the permission in writing. I just took Wayne at his word. We carried on building the wall.
Well after the project was finished, as I said, the local Maoris kicked up a huge fuss, and, under pressure from Maori, council withdrew their resource consent! The buckled.
For five long years we battled with the council. As I said, Maori ended up costing us $20,000.
Local Maori also gave us a hideous time over Christmas / New Year 2015/16, after the wall was completed, committing no less than 16 crimes against us over a two week period.
Their issue was that they claimed that the land we owned had been pinched from them way back in history and they wanted it back i.e. stolen from them.
This prompted me to take time off work (more loss of time and money) to research the history of the land. I wrote a 200 page on the subject.
The foreword to the book was written by Dr Paul Moon, New Zealand’s foremost historian when it comes to the history of this country.
The conclusion we came to was that Maori had absolutely no grounds for any grievance. Locals were being fed a whole lot of fake history by other Maori and the history they were hearing was simply not true.
Really, they just wanted the land for free. Entitlement. For example, when we installed the drive to the top of the property, a senior Maori came one day and said “What’s in for us?”. My reply was “Locals will get out of it what they put into it, which is zero”. They will intimidate
and bully and engage in criminal activity to get stuff for free. Conclusion? Maori involvement in planning and the consent process is just plain wrong.
After they had been proven to be wrong, with their stories about the land being stolen, they didn’t ever come forward with an apology for all the grief they caused and the money they cost. They are completely unaccountable. The council and police turn a blind eye.
If you want a copy of the book, please write to me. I can send you a digital copy for free.
Really, it was a crisis averted.
Stage three, installing the horizontal timber on the retaining wall, excavating out the car park and area for the new water tank
As I said before, this was a huge project, and pretty scary. It was scary because it was the biggest building project I’d ever completed, there was a lot of money involved, and a lot of people I’d never met before. What do I mean by ‘people I’d never met before’?
I put an advert in Trade Me for volunteers. I don’t have a copy of the advert now, but it basically invited people to come for 2 weeks to Oke Bay to work in return for free food and time at the beach.
I was flooded with responses from people all over New Zealand. In the end I had to be selective.
Thankfully, we had good weather for most of those two weeks, which was in itself a bit of a miracle. Three pages on from this page, you can see all the people who came. They came from all walks of like, and were all different
ages and nationalities. In the end, it turned out to be such fun, and they were so lovely but I knew none of this at the beginning. Everyone had to get themselves there so I arranged for people to arrive between 1-5 on the first day.
Beds had to be allocated and people were just put together in a certain room, not knowing whether they would get on ok or not. Our cook had to be there early in the morning so as to prepare a meal for the evening, the idea being that we’d all be able to meet and greet while having dinner on the first night.
I’d then explain at that first meal what the plan was going forwards, what we were going to be doing, and how to get along with each other, household rules (e.g. no one was allowed to go to the fridge and help themselves to food without asking the cook), cleaning
rosters, etc etc. It was a real military exercise! Everyone bought into it from the start. I hoped the honeymoon would never end, and thankfully it never did!
Cowleys hire centre brought a dump truck and a digger all the way up from Whangarei at the prescribed time so that we had all the gear and machines we needed just at the right time. From memory, the bill for the machines for two weeks was about $5000.
I remember buying the food in Whangarei. We needed a trailer just to bring all the food to Oke Bay! Our first shop at Pak N Save was about $2000!
All the materials for doing the work had to be ordered and thankfully they all arrived on time. My worst nightmare was having people standing around with nothing to do because some type of material had not arrived e.g. Like the timber to do the retaining wall, or the plastic lining which went on the back of the wall.
There were lots of things to think about all at once and I had to be constantly thinking of the present, the near future, and the far future all at once. e.g. What was happening right now and making sure everyone was occupied and happy and then thinking about the next day and what was going to be needed to keep everyone happy and going, and the next day after that!
And so on, right to the end of the project. I had also started selling Real Estate in Auckland by this stage, so I was fielding calls about property during the day. In the evenings, I would stay up late answering emails from clients, on top of ordering materials that we needed at Oke. Most nights I had about 4 hours sleep. The adrenaline kept me going and alert during the day. These times of being alone at night were vital for me
because it gave me time and space to reflect on each day and to think carefully about what was coming up the next day. I had to predict so much and plan so much. I’d get up before everyone else so I could get out the gear or the tools or whatever that each person was going to need to do their job each day. For any leader, taking time to reflect and think is crucial to success.
Personally, I loved the challenge, and of living on the edge. It was stressful but thrilling and exciting.
I remember in the first few minutes after arrival, Dianna our chef saying that the accommodation in the room was too cramped for her, and she wanted to sleep in a tent on her own! After some talking to and ‘counselling’ she settled down and eventually accepted her situation. By the end she and her roommate were best friends.
The kitchen had not long been renovated by this stage and the floors sanded and polished, so we put down huge sheets of cardboard on the floors on the ground floor to try and minimise the wear and tear on the floors and minimise the dirt and mud coming into the house. There was too much going on all day to require people to take their shoes off when coming into the house.
Within a few days, the site was like a war zone, with men and machines everywhere, painting crews busy inside and out, the retaining wall being constructed, and millions of other little things going on.
Thankfully, the water tank was full so I didn’t have to worry about running out of water, although we did ask people to be careful with water if they could. Dianna
did really well in the kitchen as it was hard for her to have to plan each meal and keep everyone fed and watered. She washed the dishes as well, so she was pretty much confined to the kitchen 24/7. What a legend!
I made sure we ate well, and that no expense was spared, as people can’t work well if they are not fed well. Food was a focal point and time for us to get together and talk.
This too was a vital relationship building time because often we’d be all day working on some part of the property and pretty much not seeing anyone else. So meals were not just important for re-fueling but to build friendships and relationships. If people were making friends and laughing, and eating well, they
were happy.
I had a 35mm camera and each day I would take photos of this and that and this person and that person, and in the evenings we crowded into the front room after dinner and viewed the photos on the big TV. We never had so many laughs, especially with Mark the joker being there. He was such a lot of fun to have on the team and I don’t know what it would have been like without him.
Wherever he went there was lots of laughter and joking. He was such a God send as the work we were doing was serious and intense and we needed him to balance things up. I tried to be light hearted and fun as well, but it was hard to be like this all the time, as my mind was thinking about so much all the time!
With 20 or so people on site, and none of them knowing each other before they arrived, the chance of blow ups and personality clashes was high but we never had any. I think our evenings watching photos and making smart and funny comments about each photo glued us all together. Laughter is a such a key to success in any endeavour. So is being organised. If people had what they wanted and needed to do the job they were doing, they were happy. As I said, good food was also a key.
Each morning we had a Christian devotion after breakfast, and these too were priceless.
Even though most of the people who came were not Church goers, they all joined in and the times were had were amazing.
As I have mentioned before, one of the stand out miracles of our time was Zane. The night before we were to arrive at Oke Bay, he phoned from Christchurch. He said he really wanted to come but had no money to fly to Auckland.
He said he could operate a digger. Ordinarily, and because finances were so tight, I wouldn’t pay the transport of any of the volunteers to get to Oke Bay but with Zane I felt I should.
So on the spot, I made a decision to pay for his airfare. The next day he arrived in Auckland, we picked him up, and we all headed up there.
It turned out he was one of Christchurch’s top digger drivers and without him there is no way we could have done what we did up there.
He was an absolute key person for us. I didn’t realise this as I was planning, but we needed someone with a high level of skill with a digger to do what we did and Zane had those skills. Even the builders like Ken and Chris, who’d seen many digger drivers operating their machines over many years, said Zane was up there with the very best. Phew!
This is not to say everyone else was not a key person, because they all were, but Zane was particularly key! In fact, when I think about it, everyone who came was perfect for what they had to do. We had the perfect mix of people. I believe only God could have arranged all this. Really, honestly, it had to be God at work because it all worked out so perfectly.
So why did God allow Maori and council to give us such a hard time? I don’t know. It’s a mystery. I unravel the mystery in the last section of this book.
THE AMAZING TEAM OF PEOPLE WHO CAME FOR TWO WEEKS
Ari the brilliant painter
Bart the Electrician
Chris Moore the builder
Constantin the German tourist
Dianna our Chef Gerry the septic tank installer
Jimmy donated Nikau palms
Mac the Hiab truck driver
Wayne Concrete Truck Driver
Julian the Organiser
Mark our comedian
Robbie the ex rugby league pro
Maximillion the German Tourist
Billy the Incredible all Rounder
Ken McKay the foreman
Greg the plumber
The Septic Tank digger driver
Liz the amazing painter
Willy - Carters Delivery Man
Zane The Digger Driver
Gary, Liz’s Assistant
Terry - Truck Driver - soil
The Dog
Back row left to right: Diana, Billy, Liz
Front row left to right: Ken, Mark, Julian, Zane, Ari, Constantin, Maximilian, Robbie.
Absent: Gary, who is Liz’s partner and Chris Moore, our builder and Otaki. They have a special place on the back of this card!
Buying food at Pak N Save in Whangarei. In the photos on the right is Bill, Zane, Ken, and Dianna.
Bottom right is the lady at the Mad Butcher, Whangarei processing our huge meat order!
We had to sling together a menu with each day’s food mapped out and then pretty much sticking to it.
Once up at Oke, we tried to minimise trips to Whangarei so we froze the milk and bread, which were our staples.
Eggs were also huge. We ate literally dozens and dozens of them because they were quick and easy to cook and very nutritious and everyone liked them.
We needed a trailer for the amount of food we bought!
Mark and I in Whangarei on the way up to Oke
Laying out the cardboard on the floors at the very start so that people could walk in and out without having to take their shoes off.
Zane the digger driver
Liz and Ari the star painters with Chris Moore the builder and Dianna the cook
One of the first jobs was to replace the iron on one section of the roof
Ken Mckay supervised the fitting of the retaining wall timber to the back of the poles.
Chris, Mark, Billy, and Ken enjoying a welcome drink.
Zane and Robbie.
Our first meal on the front deck together. Dianna did so well!
This was Mark’s truck. Not only did Mark provide many of the laughs but he was incredibly helpful finding bits and pieces of machinery and tools we needed.
Mark and Ari goofing around!
Zane, Constantin, and Maximillion. These two boys were German tourists on their big OE.
Making good progress...
Remember, we didn’t have a septic tank until the very end so this was our temporary tank made with two huge holes in the ground.
Robbie and Zane
We had car, tents, trucks, and equipment everywhere!
Ari was such a lovely person and so good at painting. She was one of those really steady level headed people who everyone loved. She was so good to have on the team
Liz was teaching Mark how to do Yoga but Mark was not a very good student
Mark is posing for the camera!
The bottom half of the wall was double skinned.
This was about the half way stage
We worked so well as a team
We finally got all the timber on!
The inside of the wall was lined with heavy black plastic. Notice the drainpipe at the very bottom which was inside a white sock.
There were three drain pipes. There is even a drain which starts under the house traveling under the front lawn and out through the bottom of the retaining wall
Then we put scoria over the drain
The drains come out in the bottom corner of the retaining wall nearest the gate on the driveway
As soon as the carpark area was finished, Zane started work on creating an area around the other side for the new shed and extra water tank.
We excavated out the car park area, using the soil to back-fill behind the retaining wall
Amazingly, Zane worked into the night. The dump truck is not shown here but it was going back and forth taking the soil and dumping it behind the wall.
Here is the dump truck in action.
Masses of soil came out of the hole created for the first septic tank. We had one day of rain which really slowed us down and made things hard.
All the plants had to be dug up and moved because we’d widened the driveway
The septic tank being installed.
The digger and Ken carefully dug out all the Nikaus
Eventually, all the soil was in behind the wall and the plants re-planted.
A second septic tank was installed above the car park in preparation for another building on the vacant land.
We had to run a pipe from the second septic tank under the car park to the first septic tank. The other trench across the car park was for a water pipe. What a mess!
This is the pipe underground traveling from the second septic tank to the first
There was always lots going on. This photo shows the pickets for the fence had arrived and the retaining posts were for the driveway.
Chris Moore did a brilliant job installing a low retaining wall up the driveway to hold the metal in place.
Chris did a brilliant job, working with Zane who was drilling the holes.
work
Good
Chris and Zane!
The driveway half done!
Robbie did a great job compacting the fill on the driveway.
Meanwhile, Billy and I went to Auckland to pick up some Nikau Palms which were advertised on Trade Me free for removal.
The Nikaus were hoisted onto a truck which Billy and I had hired.
This is Mac the miracle truck driver who we found on the side of the road. He willingly helped us with his big hiab truck put the trees onto our smaller truck.
When we arrived at Oke with the trees, Zane brought them up the driveway for us with the dump truck. So easy with the right gear.
Here they are, ready to be planted. They all survived, which was a bit of a miracle!
While all this was going on, the German boys and Ken were putting up the picket fence along the top of the new retaining wall
Ken did a masterful job making sure everything was done properly.
While all this was going on, Greg the plumber was working away with what he does best which is the plumbing!
There was just so much for Greg to do, having to hook up all the plumbing to the septic tanks
Good work Greg!
Ken gave himself the task of trimming the tops of all the retaining wall post, making them all completely level.
The next job was building the veranda. Here the foundations are going in. As usual, Ken was supervising, and Zane was on the digger.
Ken, the Germans boys, Chris, and Billy stop work for a moment to take a photo!
Mark (left) was cracking jokes with the concrete truck driver. Marks tee shirt reads “Mum never worries when dads in charge”...... yeah right!
The deck soon began to take shape
The weather was gloriously fine again!
We had to get the big posts for the veranda from Auckland. They were thicker than what we first intended, but in the end were happy to get the thicker ones.
The area around the side of the house was now ready for the new water tank.
We ordered a truck load of top soil from Whangarei just to help the grass grow!
Robbie and the truck driver Terry. Terry was very kind to us. After he dumped his load of soil, he waited while Zane loaded him up with extra clay soil which we didn’t need and had to get rid of.
Thanks Terry!
Zane the digger driver made this special contraption to level the top soil out and spread it around. He was so clever!
The front viewing deck was back in place, and everything was starting to take shape.
While all this was going on, Liz was faithfully painting the picket fence.
Meanwhile, Mark was moving around the building site not doing much except cracking jokes and making everyone laugh!
Gary her partner was helping her! A great team! What a lovely couple these two were!
Inside the Lodge, Ari was chipping away painting the inside of the bedrooms. What a great job she did too! Thanks Ari!
Bart the electrician was busy making sure all the electrics for the septic tank were working. Great job Bart!
Robbie was carefully placing top toil in the garden which we’d created around the fence line. Our plan was to plant Lavender in this garden, which we did.
We put a lot of Scotia up inside in all the rooms. Here Liz is painting the Scotia getting it ready to be installed.
Bart had a lot to do!
The car park was finished and we put edging around some of the gardens.
One of Ken’s jobs was to tidy up the wall at the end.
One day, someone turned up with a drone and took this photo. It shows the extent of the work. The areas for the new shed and water tank has been excavated out, and the carpark areas. Over 300m3 was extracted. That’s 30 truck loads. Most of it went behind the retaining wall. Locals took some too.
OHS would think what Ken was doing was a nightmare but he got the job done! Good work Ken!
One day the dump truck got stuck over the edge of the driveway. This is before Chris had built the low retaining wall. Ken and Zane got it out. Good work boys!
One day the new water tank arrived. It was huge!
The driver has to back it all the way around the Lodge to the other side. Kid you not, he must have made 50 little turns to do it!
Eventually, he made it around, and he got it off! Such huge skill he displayed. It was dropped nicely into place!
To get the grass growing in summer, we had to go to the top of the land on the hill and cut sods of Kikuyu grass out of the land and bring them down to where we wanted them . Robbie is making holes in the ground in which to drop the sods.
Robbie did so well. He was a model of perseverance and stick-ability! We had so many lovely people come to stay and work. I developed a real love for them.
This is Robbie bringing down a fresh load of sods from up top. It was hot heavy hard work. Robbie and I did it together. We watered the sods with the water from the bore and they eventually took and today we have gorgeous thick Kikuyu grass. Because the ground was driven over constantly it has become rock hard.
We ordered all the lovely patterned fretwork / wood work which is on the deck from Auckland Ken spray painted it before it was put up.
The veranda came together so perfectly and it looked just so beautiful! Ken McKay, Chris Moore and Billy pretty much did this on their own. Incredible!
The next thing to do was travel to Auckland to have the poles made which were to hold up the new shade cloth..
All the shade cloth poles were concreted into the ground like this. They are not straight today because the ground was too soft to hold them. Sigh.
This is how they looked at the start. Nice and upright!
I managed to score a lovely gate on Trade Me which suited the style of the Lodge and which fitted the gap perfectly. Ken and Chris the builders installed it!
I think it looked fabulous from the road. Wow! What a beautifully engineered master piece! So much work had gone into it, and so many people helped! A miracle wall!
It looks so great. Well, I think so anyway! ha ha Notice the pickets are up and painted and the low retaining wall on the driveway completed.
Right to the end, Mark had time for a laugh! We loved having him aroundwell I did anyway!
Billy never lacks for a sense of humour!
They even had plenty of time for a laugh!
In the evenings he had Bible studies with some of the team, particularly Dianna and Robbie. The team loved and respected Billy.
Locals were quick to come and get free soil and posts, but two weeks later they were all protesting outside the Lodge, opposing the development!
By the end, people were really weary. It had been a torrid, high intensity two weeks. We pretty much worked from dawn to dusk every day! Although we ate well and slept well, during the day it was always intense and full throttle!
This is how it looked at the end of our two week period of full on work. I invite you to go back to the beginning of this book and see what the Lodge looked like at the start!
Look how straight those lovely poles are! What a magnificent job those boys did!
This is how it looks today. All the painting has been done, the trees have grown, the grass is lush, and a lot of landscaping has been completed.
The next project was building the raised gardens up the driveway
The final result was fabulous. We lined the boxes with black plastic and filled them with top grade top soil and mulch.
Then came concreting the driveway!
Chris Moore and his wife Elaine suggested one day that they would like to swap some time at Oke Bay with their family in return for concreting in the driveway for us. We thought that was a splendid idea.
If I have the story right, Elaine’s brother was also in on the plan. So Chris and one of his friends, and me and one of my friends came up for few days and laid concrete on the driveway.
The weather was perfect in that at the end of the job it rained lightly for two days which was apparently just
what freshly laid concrete needs.
Having said that, we had a huge problem with the concrete. It came from Whangarei and being an hours drive, by the time it got to Rawhiti it was going off on the truck.
So when the truck tried to get the concrete out at our end, they could hardly do it! It was such a problem and made laying it extremely difficult because it was not pliable and easy to work with. It was actually so stressful!
Poor Chris nearly died thinking he’d have to pay for a new bowl on the truck if we couldn’t get it out on time - even though it was not Chris’ fault at all! In the end we got it all out of the truck and laid but it was much harder than it ever should have been!
Thank you Chris and Elaine and family for your generosity and great idea. The driveway was a huge success!
To minimise the chance of cracking, it was Chris’ idea to place timber divides into the concrete at intervals up the drive. What a good idea Chris! The final result was great!
When the concrete finally arrived, the first few batches were OK. But as I said in the intro, the last few were a nightmare!
Just look at the consistency of the concrete coming out of the chute into the ground. It was pretty much setting as it was coming out! So so stressful.
Chris the team leader did so well with all the finishing too. He wanted it to look fabulous which it did. Thank you so much Chris!
The next big project was building the quaint storage shed on the south side
For a long while, we used to store everything under the house. We’d scrape our backs, bruise our knees, and bang our heads getting in and out of there for the first eight years, but we did it. It was gruelling. It was also dark under there and we’d have to take torches to see what we were doing. But it served its purpose. Under the house everything was kept dry and sheltered from
the sun. The time came to build a shed in which we could store everything. I wanted it to look in keeping with the style and design of the house so I set about finding a lead light window for the front. I found one on Trade Me. Ken McKay and Billy did a fabulous job with the front, giving it extra time in the build to give it the look that it has today. We didn’t need a permit because it’s less than 10m2. Billy painted it. When we
built the new viewing deck at the front, Ken cut the old deck in half, and the two halves were brought to where they are today. Each half is in front of a shed, and they work so well! We had to have the weather boards made so that they matched the profile of the weather-boards on the house. The shed was built July 2016. I found the front French doors on Trade Me, and they had be brought up from Tauranga.
It quickly started to take shape.
Ken pretending to be grumpy.
“Little by Little, Great Gain Is Made”
Christian Proverb
It was so special having Bill’s wife Lorna come to stay!
