(UPBEAT MUSIC) Auckland ` Tamaki Makaurau ` the City of Sails, The Place Desired by Many. And you can see why ` the beaches,... Not bad! ...the shopping, the restaurants, the people. But there's the other stuff ` (DRAMATIC MUSIC) the traffic,... Come on! ...the house prices,... Whoa! (SIREN WAILS) ...the noise, the people! Aucklanders are packing up and moving out every day. And this show is about that. I did it, and I never looked back. Come with us as we follow escapees swapping the pavement for the paddocks. For richer, for poorer; for better or worse, we are moving out. We're just winging it, really. We've probably made a big mistake. We're not keeping a door open in Auckland, and there's no fallback option. Mt Wellington ` Maungarei. It's a short drive to the city; it's close to the airport; it's close to the motorway; and the houses around here a highly sought after. The owners of this house are long-established Aucklanders, and they love this place. So why would they be thinking about moving out? (RELAXED MUSIC) Kua 30 tau a Lenny raua ko Antoinette Naera e marena ana, a, kua 10 tau e noho ana ki tenei whare. I aua tau ra, kua taparatia tona wariu. Ina te pai me te whairawa o Tamaki, ne? We're very fortunate in the way that we've made our place. It's incredibly private. It's a great entertainer's area. We've really` We just love people. It's private. I feel really safe here. I work for a electronic distribution company. My title is 'brand manager', so I look after four major brands with our company. My bosses are great. They're great friends. We could do that in your op-ex budget. Yeah, could be a good lease opportunity. If you don't have a cap-ex budget. Lenny's been with us since about 1991, in varying roles. Very versatile guy. Most of the customers, they're his mates. All my working career, I've been a PA, executive assistant, but I resigned from the company I was working with, and they've contracted me back, so I'm doing project work for them. He rereke ki etahi atu kainoho o Tamaki, kaore a raua haerenga ki te mahi i te tino tawhiti. The traffic is horrendous coming home, so I try to leave the office about 4 o'clock, so I'd have missed that hideous rush. My office is about a minute away, so it's pretty good. He tokorua puku mahi a Lenny raua ko Antoinette; he oranga pai hoki to raua,... Awesome, awesome! ...ka rongo tonu i te reka o te hua. A lot of people'd say that Auckland's a terrible place, but we've got a great life here. Engari ke, i roto i nga tau tata, me he whairawa te whakapau putea a te tokorua nei. I'd grown to be 162 kilos. I had obstructive sleep apnoea. I had type-2 diabetes. I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. ANTOINETTE: I was 110 kilos, and it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is an awful lot of weight. LENNY: I used to travel a lot on an aeroplane. I would always have to get an extender belt. My bosses said to me one day, 'Mate, we love ya, and we think that you're a health risk.' They said to me, 'We would like you to go and have gastric surgery. We will pay for that. 'Would you think about that?' I said, 'Yeah, sure.' After Lenny had his surgery, we talked about it, and he said, 'Do you think you wanna get it done?' And I said, 'Yeah, I think I would like to,' so on my actual birthday, I was in hospital, having surgery, and they sang 'Happy Birthday' to me as they wheeled me into the theatre. I tenei ra, kua piri atu ano a Lenny raua ko Antoinette ki te huarahi o te hauora. We try and stay active together. We do triathlons and stuff together. Ko Lenny te kaihautu o tetahi karapu tane e ki a nei ko 'The Bros'. Come on, my brother! Come on! He toru tau whai muri mai, kei te pakari katoa te tokorua nei. Engari, he aha nga take e hiahia ana raua kia puta i a Tamaki Makaurau? Although I'm born and bred in Auckland, I want to leave. I want to go up back to the area that my family is from. My family is from the Hokianga area ` my mum and my dad. My ageing uncles are passing away, so now it's my generation's turn to start stepping up. Hokianga's always been home. A lot of people who live in Auckland aren't even from here. And as you get a little bit older, sometimes you just wanna go home, and that can be a really defining moment. So, we had a double funeral, and I'd never been to one of those before. Lost a cousin, and he was a year older than me. He was holidaying in Samoa. He was out canoeing, just having a good ol' canoe, and then he had a heart attack, and then my brother, his truck went off a bridge, fell into the river, and he drowned. So, our family is incredibly close. So when we lost two family members, it was just` it was horrible. Just really, once again, reiterates to us you don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. Kei te Wahapu o Hokianga, otira te turangawaewae o Lenny a Opononi, a, he wha haora te tawhiti mai i Tamaki. He tawhiti rawa i te pokapu me ona whakarakei katoa. Hokianga smoked fish. Kei te ngana a Lenny kia hoki inaianei, engari ano, mo tetahi atu. For me to leave, it's daunting. I'm born and bred in the city, and that's all I've known. I've never lived anywhere else. Half of me is scared to death, and the other half of me is very excited, but at the moment, the half of me that's scared to death is overruling the excited half. 1 Kua roa rawa atu a Lenny raua ko Antoinette e whai kainga ana ki Tamaki Makaurau. Awesome, awesome! We've been here, yeah, since 2008, so nearly 10 years. Inaianei, ko te Wahapu o Hokianga i te Tai Tokerau te aronga atu. No te matenga o etahi o nga whanaunga tata a Lenny, e rereke ana te titiro ki tona ao. I want to go back to the area that my family is from. We're very fortunate, being Maori, because from the time that we're born, typically, we have a sense of home. I'm gonna be buried in the same urupa as my mum, my dad, my nana, my uncles, my cousins. We have a sense of home from day one. My boys know where they're going to be buried. He utu taurite whare i Maungarei he neke atu i te kotahi miriona tara. Hmm. But what are these two workaholics gonna be doing up in the Hokianga? The first thing I have to do when I get up there is establish a revenue stream so that Antoinette and I can live. Ko ta Lenny he whakamahi i ona pukenga whakahaere pakihi kia tu ai he pakihi matihiko me nga rangatahi o te takiwa. He whakatu kamupene turuhi ano hoki te haere ake nei. Tourism is the biggest export we have now. It overtook dairy last year. Engari e ahu mai ana te katoa o nga rawa mo te whakatunga mai o te pakihi hou ` i te hoko tango o te whare i Tamaki Makaurau ` koia i a hua raru ai nga whakahaerenga mo Antoinette. You know, I've got that little niggly thing in the back of my head that says, 'Oh, maybe he's running before he can walk, and, you know, he probably needs to slow down a wee bit.' For me, to leave is daunting. Kei raro hoki a Antoinette, i te kapua pouri. I hinga tona teina i tera tau. A, e hiahia ana kia piri tata tonu ia ki tona mama. My sister was diagnosed with cancer four years ago,... SOBS: It's sad. ...and so that was quite difficult, trying to support my mum with that. Little bit sad. (LAUGHS) E noho tonu ana te mama o Antoinette, a Jackie, ki to raua whare. Pera i tona tamahine, ko Tamaki Makaurau tona kainga anake i nga tau. He ahuatanga nui ina hunuku ai te whanau ki Te Hokianga. I try not to think about that at this point in time. It's been quite a hard year for my mum. See? I'm getting teary again. (LAUGHS) She's very reluctant to change, and she's gonna hate me saying that, but she is, and it takes her a long time to process things. Pretty flash. To leave her behind's (VOICE BREAKS) quite hard for me. I tenei wa, kaore e kite ana mena ranei ka haere hoki a Jackie ki Te Hokianga. I'm worried about being lonely. Not not being busy, but being lonely over and above everything else. Kei te noho totara wahi rua a Antoinette i nga tau aroha e rua o tona ao. Engari, tera hoki tetahi ahuatanga e mama ake ai te hunuku ki te raki. Kei a raua ke to raua ano whare ki reira. No reira... ...there's only one thing for it ` road trip! (UPBEAT MUSIC) Mahere a pakihi? Katahi ra! E pehea ana te hiahia a Lenny kia hono ano ia ki tona ahurea? Right, well, I've been driving for about three hours now. Auckland, that way; Opononi, that way. And I know that Lenny and Antoinette are expecting me. They're gonna give me a little look around, tell me what they love about the place and sell it to me. (LAUGHS) I don't think it's gonna be too much of a hard sell, though. Kei runga noa atu tenei wahi o Hokianga i tenei ra. Kua puta mai te ra, e marino ana te wai. I'm good! Mm! Oh! Come in! Finally got here. Kia ora, bro. Welcome to the Hokianga! Hey, thank you! You get to stare at that all day. We're hoping too. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the pull, isn't it? You know? That's the plan. As long as I can see the water, I'm all good to move. If he decides we're moving away from the water, I'll go back to Auckland. All right. All right. So, he aha nga rereketanga o te ahua ki konei? What are the lifestyle differences between Auckland and here? I think the lifestyle up here is a lot slower than Auckland. Auckland's just fast-paced, you know? We've got this out here every day, and it's just a lot slower and a lot more relaxed. Well, I'm keen to go and have a look down by the water, so are there a couple of places that you can show me around? Sure. Love to. All right, so what's the vision, if you were going to (LAUGHS) do something up here? An idea` Look, my poor wife tries to keep up with the ideas that I have. Here's a really good little commercial space where we wanna do something. We have 250,000 people pass by here every year. This is gonna be the site of our retail outlet. This is where it's gonna be. But let me show you where I'm thinking of putting our water sports. So, just across the road where we were, that's our booking office and our little commercial hub. We give them a boarding pass, they come down here, and they could be doing anything from parasailing, kayaking, SUP boarding. All of our water sports will be just down here. I plan on employing local talent. Hopefully, even, if they're halfway any good, send them away on tourism courses. This is our marae, Te Whakamaharatanga. One day, I know, this will be the last place that I lie before we go down to our urupa. So you could really become part of the marae committee; you could be the fixer-upper guy; you could be the guy out the back; you could` You know, part of the responsibility of coming back, if you were to, is that you've gotta get involved, right? Right, that's what I wanna do, cos I was born and bred in Auckland, so now the culture's starting to kick in a heck of a lot more now. (ALL LAUGH) Now, this is the road that you take to get to Auckland, right? Yes. At the back of you. Yeah. Typically, when we come drive from Auckland, we'll come through Dargaville, through the Waipoua Forest, and we come through here. We come round this corner here; we see the lights of our marae on, and it just gives you that sense of, 'I'm home.' I wish you the best of luck. I know that that's gonna be a big thing for you, but if it happens, the reward's here. Yeah, definitely. For sure. (CARS HONK, TRAFFIC HUMS) Ki Tamaki, kua piki te wariu o te whare i Maungarei. Mehemea, ka rite ano te pohiri a te makete ki taua pikinga utu, kua whakarerea katoatia nga awangawanga katoa. (CHATTER) HOW many open homes have you had? By the time we finish, we will have had eight. Oh, it's horrible! I hate it! Heoi ano, e hikaka ana a Antoinette, kia kite i nga hua e tatari mai ana i te Tai Tokerau. 'One of my plans is to 'do girls' weekends away.' There's some amazing walks in the Hokianga. I don't know if you've done any of them. 'There's just some really really nice things to do, and it's a beautiful place to be.' (UPBEAT MUSIC) Kua tae te wa. Kei te whakapono nui a Lenny e rapu ana i te huarahi e mama ake ai tana ngakau. (LIVELY GUITAR MUSIC) If you take February into account against September, October... 'More than likely, we would have, probably, 40 people or 50 people back here after the auction, 'and we're gonna hopefully celebrate.' First and foremost is the agency agreement. Engari he kupu whakatupato ta te kaiakihana ` he maha nga kaihoko whare i te ahua o te makete i tenei wa. But will they sell? And if they don't, will they stay? But first, some buyers need to show up. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) 6.30, nobody here. 25 to 7, still nobody here. It's a really` Makes you feel quite sick on the inside. Half an hour after the auction was supposed to start, only one couple has turned up to bid on the property. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) They seem very dispassionate about stuff, you know? And it's very clinical, and it's very odd. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) We'll kick off the auction proceedings for this lovely, lovely property. Ladies and gentlemen, pleasure to be your auctioneer here this evening. My role, very simple. I'll confirm for you the contract, I'll confirm for you the process, then I'll invite your bids. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) I wont reserve for the highest bid. We'll work with all parties afterwards. Opening bid or offer? And I'm looking in this direction. (LAUGHS) (DRAMATIC MUSIC) 1 (UPBEAT MUSIC) 1 ...have any bids at the beginning, I'll call three times, and then I'll close. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Opening bid or offer? First, second, third? (TENSE MUSIC) There we go. We're closed, and now we open the property up for the entire market. Happy to deal with conditional interests, and obviously, we will keep working nice and hard. Let's get working. Thank you. '(SIGHS) Ah, was that an epic fail or what? (LAUGHS)' I don't know whether I'm pleased or sad. I'm very emotional, but I don't know whether I'm pleased or sad. He harore rangitahi pea te wahi ki te akihana, kua whakatarewatia te hunukutanga atu ki Te Hokianga ` mo tenei wa. This was their first place they came to see. Right. So they've only just started looking. Two people turned up. Nobody's bid for it, so it now goes to... By negotiation? ...negotiation. It's critical to keep moving, but catch your breath also. 'So much to do to set up the new business. Gotta build websites.' Can't really order our new jet skis and quad bikes, you know, cos that's gonna be quite a big spend and don't have that money, unless you've got that hiding somewhere? No. So we have to wait till our house is sold before we can do that sort of stuff. Engari, e kore rawa te makete hokowhare o Tamaki e moe. Haere noa te wa, kua rongo hoki au i nga rongo pai e puta mai ana i Maungarei. Hey! How are ya? Good. How are you? Very good. How are you, bro? Good to see you again. Good to see you again too. That there was hoping that we could celebrate something. Have we got something to celebrate? How's it going with the house? Well, we've got a contract. It's due to go unconditional at the end of the month, and we're expecting a backup contract any day now. A couple of people have walked in and said, 'This is just what I'm looking for,' so it's been really good for us. I can't wait to really progress to the next stage. But` Get our business up and running properly. Get our business up and running. We've had a hosted weekend. Five ladies from Auckland came up to experience the Hokianga, and by all accounts, they had a fantastic time. Here I come, water! (LAUGHS) We got our Facebook page, Awesome Adventures Hokianga. Photos are up there, and it was just enlightening to think, 'Well, this is an idea of a business. 'Let's see how it goes. Let's see what the feedback is,' and the feedback has been fantastic. In terms of the house sale, we'll keep the lid on the wine just for now. Yes! Yeah. And we'll celebrate when that moment comes, yeah? Fantastic. Yeah, fantastic. OK. All right. Cool. Kotahi ano te ahuatanga hei tapiri atu ki tenei pikitia e kite ana i nga onekura o Te Hokianga. So, Jackie, I understand you've got some news. Kua whakatau a Jackie e kore ia e neke ki te Tai Tokerau kia noho tahi me tana tamahine. Engari, kua tuwhera te tatau mo ake tonu atu. No reira, he poroporoaki ki te whaitua o Tamaki Makaurau. (UPBEAT MUSIC) Yeah, good, man. Good. Looking forward to this day. (LAUGHS) (UPBEAT MUSIC) OK. See you fellas up there. Cheers, bro. Thanks, Len. (UPBEAT MUSIC CONTINUES) Kua hunuku ke a Lenny raua ko Antoinette ki Opononi, i a raua e tatari nei kia hokona atu to raua whare. (DRILL WHIRRS) It looks like the happy couple are settling in, and maybe business has already started. Hey! My brother! Welcome back! Of course you're up the ladder! Of course you're up the ladder! Oh, tena koe! Mm! Good to see you, my brother! (LAUGHS) Hey! Hey! Oh! How are you? I'm very good. I'm very good. More to the point, how are you in your new turangawaewae? I'm good. I'm good. Yeah? Yeah. No, it's going really well. Tenei te patai nui ` kei te pehea to korua pakihi hou? How's your new business? Things that we talked about last time? Well, they're coming to fruition now. The business, you mean? The business. We've bought some equipment now for our summer sports. We've got some more equipment on the way. So this is a bit of a workshop unit. Right. All of our electrical, data and security gear's in the shed. Antoinette, did I walk past a little apartment down here as well? Yeah, you did. That's our wee apartment we call 'Dan's Den'. Would you like to have a look inside? I would love to have a look. Let's do it. Let's go. This is our wee... It's all a bit shiny and new, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's very new. It was Lenny's brother's office. So when he passed away, we did some renovations in here and painted it up, and we now do Airbnb hosting, and when I do my girl-weekend hosting, this is where they come and stay. I raru i te wa i hunuku korua? Were there any problems when you moved? No, not really. I think` It was quite seamless, really. Wasn't it? Yeah, we already had the place, so we just moved our stuff from down there, and we juggled around where we need to put stuff. It was great. Mm. Are you sure that you've made the right move? Cos it feels pretty positive to me. Yup! Yeah. (LAUGHS) Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better about it now. Lenny and Antoinette had a good life in Auckland, but I reckon their life's about to get a whole lot more exciting here in the Hokianga. And any time that they want to go and visit their friends and their whanau in the big smoke, I'm pretty sure that Auckland will still be there. (RELAXED MUSIC) Captions by Tom Pedlar. Edited by Glenna Casalme. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017