(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 probably made a big mistake. We're not keeping a door open in Auckland, and there's no fallback option. Copyright Able 2017 (FUNKY ACOUSTIC MUSIC) South Auckland ` vibrant, busy, great shopping and an international airport. The young couple in this classic bungalow love it here. What's not to like? Ah, yummy. Hale and Awatea live in Hale's nana's whare, with their three kids. Six is a bit of a squeeze, but it's a happy home, and that's what matters. It's a three-bedroom home in Clover Park. It's a good neighbourhood. Been here all my life, anyway. I'm a probation officer. My catchment area's all of the east side. And this is the only city I've ever known, you know? Auckland and beautiful South Auckland and what it's all about, and the culture and the people and everything else that goes with it. I came to Auckland for study and just stayed here and found work. I work in customer service at Manukau Institute of Technology. We have three kids together ` two boys and` two very active boys, and a daughter. And we also have another three kids that's with us as well, but not with us all the time. Who brought me up was my grandparents ` my nana and grandpa. I'm fortunate to still have my grandmother here today, still. She has a really close relationship with the kids ` Nana. She's been with Te Mana since he was two, and the other two since they were born. So, yeah, she's like a second mum to them. Isn't she? The kids would all go into her room and sneak biscuits. (LAUGHS) Yeah. A, tapihiria te whanau, me etahi manuhuri, he mahanga tangata hei whangai ma Hale, raua ko Awatea i te iti o te putea. Kaore he painga mo te whakamahere putea. I think we'd spend... $200 a week on shopping, a week. Yeah. Pera i etahi atu mama me nga papa, kua roa rawa e whakaaro ana mo te puta i Tamaki Makaurau, me te ngawari hoki o te utu o te oranga i tuawhenua. I don't know if the price will go down, but I hope it does. Yeah, but being out of Auckland, I'm guessing it might be a little bit higher. I don't know yet. But we'll wait and see. Engari, ehara i te mea ko te utu o te oranga ia ra, ia ra te mea nui; ko te katoa o te whaitua ke. What I would miss about Auckland would be... nothing. (TENSE MUSIC) The highway can be quite hectic. So it can take up to... 15 minutes one day, and the same journey, up to an hour. So (INHALES SHARPLY) it gets quite... Yeah, a long day ` in the beginning and the end. Ehara i te tini o nga motoka; ko te wa ke e tae atu ai ki nga wahi katoa. Been here all my life, and we've just seen an increase, population-wise. The construction popping up everywhere now, and I don't know, maybe it's an age thing. The change in Auckland we've seen. I think there's a little bit of keeping up with the Joneses ` so who's got what shoes, and who's got what clothes, who drives what ` I would like to get away from that. (FESTIVE MUSIC) A, ko tetahi wahi kaore he paku aha ki te hunga o reira kaore e tawhiti konei ` ko Otara. This market is a huge part of our life, our routine. And we've been pretty much coming from... for 10 years. For 10 years. BOTH: Yeah. So there's always familiar face. How are you, brother? You know the shops to go to and which shops are priced a bit high and which shops, you know, low. Where to eat. Yeah, just one more. I've grown up here, carrying Nana's bags of veggies and a sack of potatoes on the shoulder and catching the bus. So this goes away` It goes back a long way. It hasn't changed much, and that's the best part too, you know? E hiahia ana raua kia noho tonu ki konei. Pera i etahi whanau ano, kua mahue i te tai mo te hoko whare. We made that a goal when we got married, that next thing we'd like to do was to look at purchasing a home, and we kind of missed that, I think, probably by a year. Yeah, when things went a bit crazy. It makes us mad, because we work quite hard to try and save up for something like a home. And it just seems impossible that, um... You're just chasing your tail, eh? Chasing, yeah. Mm. The prices just keep going higher and higher and higher, but our wages don't. They don't reflect the increase. So, yeah, we need to go somewhere were the prices aren't that high. E miharo ana tenei whanau ki te whakaaro o te noho haneanea ki tai. Engari me mate te whanau kia hunuku ki te motu o Niue, e kore pea e tutuki. But there's one place in the sun where the property door hasn't closed just yet. Me te aha, he rua haora anake te tawhiti atu. (RISING, INSPIRING MUSIC) * (UPBEAT MUSIC) (PLAYFUL MUSIC) Kua puta te whakatau a Hale raua ko Awatea kua tae te wa e hunuku ai te whanau katoa ki wahi ke atu i te Tonga o Tamaki Makaurau. What I would miss about Auckland would be... nothing. Kei ona tau 80 inaianei, kaore te kuia o Hale mo te neke. Koira tetahi o nga tino taumahatanga mo te whanau. Engari me mate ururoa kei mate wheke. Heartstrings will be pulled. Yeah. She has family staying here with her as soon as we go. So that's good. A, kua tirohia tetahi kainga motuhake ano e Hale raua ko Awatea ` ko te kainga o Whangarei i Te Tai Tokerau. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) We want to move to Whangarei. So we're in the middle of finding a home. And, yeah, it's exciting. Whangarei wasn't too far away from family that we have, mainly in Auckland. Close to the beaches as well, and we thought that the lifestyle suited what we were looking for. E aroha ana tenei whanau ki te oneone me te tai moana. And, yes, Auckland's got some nice beaches. But locals in Whangarei will say that they have got the edge. (FUNKY MUSIC) The kids aren't too fussed about moving. Our 9-year-old doesn't really want to go, but he'll be OK. 6-year-old, he's all right. 1-year-old wouldn't know any different, (LAUGHS) so she's fine. Mo tetahi whare e toru ona ruma, he heke iho i te $350,000 te utu. A, he nui tonu nga koko pai hei noho ana ma raua. Kua whakata a Hale raua ko Awatea mo te ra nei kia haere ai ki Whangarei. Kei te haere pera hoki ahau kia kite he aha nga painga o te wahi nei. Hey. How are you? Mmm. I'm Tamati. I'm Hale. Nice to meet you. And? Kia ora. Awatea. Nice to meet you both. Well, I've gotta say it looks really good from up in the plane. But I wanna see what it looks like down on the ground. So should we go have a drive around? Yes. Let's. Let's go. All right. Let's do it. (PLEASANT, UPBEAT MUSIC) This is Whangarei. (CHUCKLES) Look at it. Wow. I always think you can get a really good sense of a city when you're up high and you're looking at it right across like this. Yeah. You can see everywhere. And this is the best place to look at it, from up here. Yeah. You've got the beaches; you've got the Whangarei Heads out this way. And I know that the beaches were a key reason you guys wanted to come up here, right? Because it was so close. It's definitely an attraction. It's not too big; it's not too small. Yep. Yeah. It looks massive from up here. You can see down here, this is the CBD, with all of the boats down there as well. Have you thought about where you might set up? The northern area is quite established ` the Kamo-Tikipunga. Yeah. We should probably go and check out the kind of houses that are available, and also the price range too. Yeah. So should we do that? Yeah. Let's do it. Engari he take nui ano i haere mai ai a Awatea ki konei. My family are closer to Whangarei, so they were all for it. They were wanting us to choose to Whangarei. So they were excited. Ko Whangarei te pokapu matua o Te Tai Tokerau. Kei te whanake haere te rohe nei. He nui ake nga turanga mahi e watea ana i nga ahu mai penei i te ahuwhenua, ahuone, ngahere me nga mahi turuhi. (RISING MUSIC) So, here we are in Kamo, and this is a cross-section of what's available around here. So tell me exactly what it is that you guys are looking for in terms of what you want out of a house. Three-bedroom, warm, a lawn for the kids to play on, preferably. Um... Nice-sized kitchen. Yeah. All those cosmetic things would be nice, but our price range is probably 300 to 400 at the most. OK. The highest. That's quite a big range. So 300 down the lower end, and 400 up the top end. You get quite a few houses in that gap there. Down the 300 end, I mean, this one here, prime example ` 320. It's a three-bedroom. So it's got what you want, and it looks pretty sunny, but it looks like fixer-upper too, you know? If you wanna do some DIY, that's the kind of price range that you're looking for and the kind of house that you're looking for. Up here, 395, and that looks like the kind of place where it's been renovated; it looks like you could just move straight in and not have to worry about fixing anything up. So are you DIY kind of people? I suppose, you know, if we were given something like a blank canvass, then we would like to add our own touches. But, you know, for that price range, just looking at what we have here, it's a good selection. Well, you don't have to make that decision right now. But like I said, it's good to know what's out there, what's available in the market locally. I'm getting out of here, but that's gonna give you guys plenty of time to think about what it is that you want and maybe even have a look at some of these places too. So good luck. Thank you. Thanks. (LAUGHS) All right, well, see you guys later. Good luck. Kei taumata ke a Whangarei. Na te hunuku penei mai, ka taea e raua hoki te hoko whare motuhake. Engari ka pehea te mokete? Kaore hoki i a Hale raua ko Awatea tetahi turanga mahi. I'll be looking for work. I've already started. I've applied for maybe 10, 20 jobs. I'm just enquiring about an application that I sent through. Apparently, there's a lot of Aucklanders moving up to Whangarei, so I'm up against them as well. It's hard trying to apply for jobs while working full-time. And knowing that my chances are even less now because there's more people moving, crossing fingers that in the next month or so, something comes up. Yeah, no worries. My role is quite transferrable, so I'm hoping to transfer there eventually... and continue on what I'm doing now. Mo te wa nei, e whakaaro ana a Hale kia noho ia ki te taha o tona kuia i Tamaki Makaurau mahi ai, kia puta tetahi turanga mahi i Te Tai Tokerau. (LIGHT, PLAYFUL MUSIC) Kua puta i a Hale raua ko Awatea te whakatau ki hunuku i to ratou kainga i te Tonga o Tamaki Makaurau kia timata ano i Whangarei. Kaore o raua turanga mahi, a, kua tukuna tetahi tono whare he $340,000 te nui o te utu mo tenei whare i Kamo. (UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC) Kua whakaaetia ra te tono, a, he ringa ki te hoe. (UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC CONTINUES) The Van Lines guys are here, and they're packing all our stuff. It's all (CHUCKLES) yeah, surreal, really. We spent the last week sorting and clearing out stuff. It's really happening today. (CHUCKLES) Definitely everything on top. Top. Going. Not the fridge? No, not the fridge. We're going to Whangarei. Why?! Oh, just for a new start. Emotional watching it all being moved. Aw. (SNIFFLES) I don't know. Yeah. Just seeing that` looking at that house in this angle... (SOBS SOFTLY) Yup. Are you ready? Yeah. Yes, we are ready, ready. Of course we're ready. Mm. As one door closes, another opens. We start the next journey. I'll go into the bathroom and cry by myself. (CHORTLES) Bye, my stuff. (LAUGHS) That's everything. That's our whole life in there. (LAUGHS) (LAID-BACK BLUES MUSIC) Tomorrow we go; tonight we're just gonna have a few people, just to allow the kids, anyway, to say goodbye to their cousins. We're saying grace. Hang on, who's saying grace? (SOMBRE ORGAN MUSIC) Oh, yes, please. Come to Nana. Come and say bye to Nana. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) Oh. VOICE BREAKS: Say, 'Bye, Nana.' Eh? (CRIES) Bye, Nana. (SOBS) Aw. Leaving Nana, that was the hardest. Poor Nana. She's struggling with not being with the kids, I think. That's gonna be her shock` Well, it's going to be a quiet house. We've kind of taken over her house, where she's been for the last eight years, and now it's going to feel empty for her, I think. (HORN HONKS) (GENTLE, NOSTALGIC MUSIC) WOMAN: Oi. > (GENTLE MUSIC FADES) (UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC) And here we are. This is the lounge. That's the main couch there. That's the Warrior's couch (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY). This is our corridor. Someone gets their own room. This is the main room. This is the kids' room. I roto i nga wiki tata nei, kua whai wahi nga tamariki ki nga kura me te kohanga, a, he rongo pai ano kei te pai tata. Good morning! Here we are. It's week three, and I've got a job! Yay! And our traffic today... The traffic report is a 10-minute trip. So, can't complain with that. Sweet! Kia ora. Na wa i pai, katahi ka pai ke rawa atu. Kua eke panuku hoki a Hale. As far as work goes, I've got the opportunity to move centres. Um, so, yeah, that's worked out well as well. So everything's sort of fallen into place. And new house, new job. Yeah. Koinei hoki te moemoea mo Hale ratou ko Awatea me nga tamariki; kua whai hua te hunuku mai ki Whangarei. (CATCHY, FUNKY MUSIC) Hey! BOTH: Ah! (ALL LAUGH) I found the new house, no problems. The instructions were good. Great. I'm up for the tour. Let's go. OK. All right. Let's do it. Come on. Ooh, nice, big lounge. Yeah, this is our lounge room. And I see you've got the fire burner back here, but you've also got the heat pump up here. Yeah, we've got the warmth that we wanted. And Nan's watching over you from the wall there too. Yeah, she's there. Now, I know that you guys wanted a big section, and that looks pretty big. Where does the boundary go down to? It's huge, Tamati. It goes down to... The bottom of the trees. ...bottom of the trees. So the fruit trees are yours? Yeah. Fruit trees are ours. Wood shed. The wood shed, the pathway that takes you down to halfway down to the next property, anyway. That'll be our boundary. Great! I raru i te wa i hunuku korua? Were there any problems when you moved? Surreal, really. We spent the last week sorting and clearing out stuff. And have you met the neighbours yet? Yeah, we have. Our good neighbour at the back, Barry, he just walked up, straight up the pathway, straight to the door. Brought a fish. Brought us some smoked fish. So this is the kitchen. We've got a big pantry. (LAUGHS) And it's one where you can host, right, you know, and have the friends over. They can be all out there and you'd be cooking up in here. That kind of place ` an entertaining space too, I guess. Yeah, we've got room to prep food for an army. So, what about the boys? How are they settling in? The boys are settling in really well. We can ask them. All right. So, whose bedroom is this? Mine. All right. And do you like it? Yes. Yeah? All right. And do you like your new house? Yeah! Yeah? All right, do you like your new school? Yes! Yes? Have you got any friends? Yes. What are their names? Um, Valek, Kahurangi, Draya and Kata. All right. I've seen that there's lots of beaches around here. So have you guys managed to get to the beach? BOTH: Yeah. The splash, it went over Tonga, and Tonga's just like... boomsh! (LAUGHS) I jumped off the bridge. Yeah. You jumped off the bridge? (GASPS) I was the first one. You're the first one? Here's Maka. Whoo-hoo! Oh! Whoo-hoo! Awesome! Awesome, buddy. So you think that you might like your new life here in Whangarei? BOYS: Yeah. Yeah? (HAPPY MUSIC) I bet Nana misses you. Yeah. Every time we leave, she has little tears. Aw. Leaving Nan in South Auckland was one of the hardest decisions that Hale and Awatea have ever had to make. But the thing is that Nan's actually only two hours' drive away. So they can head down there and visit her as often as they like. The exciting thing is that now they've got their own place, they can fill it with their own stuff and create their own memories. And that is awesome. Captions by Glenna Casalme. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017