The Long and Winding Road

Bringing it on home part two: As dawn breaks on the big day the house pods are lifted onto the trucks at David the craftsman-builder’s yard for the long and delicate trip out to our place at the Kenepuru Heads. Normally it would take about an hour to drive this beautifully picturesque road. As it follows the coastline around the Mahau and Kenepuru Sounds the road is narrow and consists of a multitude of twists and turns with plenty of overhead wires and overhanging trees… nonetheless off we go, only slightly daunted!

A caravan of trucks took to the for long slow slow trip from Mahakipawa….the house is on the move!

Leaving the yard and lining up on the Queen Charlotte Drive the circus is on its way.

The easy bit is done and now for the Kenepuru Road…. A little bit of pruning was sometimes required! Two camera crews and drones getting everything as it happens.

Oops,…the pilot vehicle goes over the edge! Fortunately help was at hand and bits of the house weren’t involved!

Nearly there, that’s our hill up front with the crane peeping over the trees…..note the slump in the road, one of the many still peppering the road since the Kaikoura quake!

Arriving at the gate…. the pods were unloaded just around the corner on the DOC campsite and the trucks went back to town, except for the hiab to ferry them one by one up the hill to the awaiting crane.

This is Chris Moller, the host of Grand Designs, directing the first truck through the gate. There was literally less than an inch clearance on either side. Getting through without a scratch was an incredible piece of driving!

Then there was just the hill to contend with. After all the grading and gravelling it all hinges on whether the truck could get up there – although just in case, there was a digger at the ready if it needed a tow!