(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 (UPBEAT MUSIC) Mangere Bridge ` one of those special spots dotted around Auckland that feels more like a village than a big-city suburb. Everyone lives close to the water; feels close to the mountain too. (UPBEAT, CATCHY MUSIC) Hei nga rekereke o Te Pane-o-Mataoho a Gordon raua ko Yvanca Toi e noho ana i tenei whare miharo rawa atu. Mangere Bridge is, in my eyes, the jewel of Auckland. Yes, I have to concur. (CHUCKLES) I've been in Mangere Bridge for over 30 years now, and it's definitely, you know, that special little spot that Auckland has in its crown that, you know` it still has that village mentality in terms of people saying hello to each other in the morning. We met over in Holland in 2001. Gordon was doing some tattooing work over there and had an exhibition with a Dutch photographer. He walked in, and then` (GUFFAWS) he hates that ` with his hair out, (LAUGHS HEARTILY) and the rest is history. (LAUGHS) (RISING MUSIC) Gordon and Yvanca have a son ` Tumanako ` and one thing he loves to do is draw some cool pictures with his dad. What's that, my son? Have little spots on him. Mm. Tumanako is a special child. He's our little potiki ` our little baby. He was actually born here. We had him in the tattoo studio. We can't wait and see him develop and become whatever he needs to be. Mokomoko. Mokomoko. Ae. He tohunga ta moko a Gordon. Kua taea te matinitini e ia i tona umanga ta moko, mai ana apataki i tata, ki tawhiti ra ano, penei i nga whetu o te ao puoro, penei i a Ben Harper. Conversation's sort of turned to tattoo ` from music to tattooing ` and next thing you know, he was coming out for a visit, for a little bit of a chat. I kind of thought that he was just gonna get a souvenir ` little souvenir piece ` but he ended up getting his whole back done in one sitting. Engari kei taumata ke ano nga mahi a Gordon. E kaiwhakairo rakau, toka hoki ia. He mana, he tikanga i ana mahi katoa. So, that design is called a mutu kaka. It's a representation of a bird, which is a metaphor for knowledge. That puhoro, that long design, it's kind of likened to your path, your journey in life. No reira, he whare ahuru to ratou i tetahi hapori pai; kaore e tino tawhiti ki nga toronga katoa. Ka mutu, kua tau te noho a Tumanako ki te kohanga. Why would this whanau be thinking of moving out? New Zealanders inherently are friendly people. Unfortunately, Auckland is becoming not so friendly. You know? Yeah, it's` It's not like that in Manger Bridge ` not yet. Because we're not both here in Mangere Bridge, working from home, there's no real reason for us to go into town. All those distractions sort of get you into trouble half the time anyway, so, you know, stay safe, stay home, you know? (CHORTLES, GUFFAWS) (LAID-BACK ELECTRONIC MUSIC) One day, a bolt from the blue hit this whanau like a ton of bricks. Unfortunately, I had a motorcycle accident. The result of that is I lost my leg, and that's had a huge impact on me, personally, obviously, but it kinda makes you analyse things, you know, like, really carefully about the sort of steps that you make in this big journey of ours we call life. It was a slight bump in the road, but we're over that now, and we're moving forward as a family. A, penei i nga apataki o te Kapa Tamatoa, ka hou tonu te rongo toa a Gordon, i whakamaui mai i a ia ano. A, kua ana wira e rua, kua hokona mo nga wira e wha. (ENGINE RUMBLES) After the accident, I decided that... that if I'm gonna drive or have some kind of a vehicle ` be it bike or be it car ` it had to be something like this. If you can't look cool on two wheels, then you need a four-wheel vehicle that's gonna look just as cool, if not cooler. Ehara i te mea kua poka to nga ra mo Gordon i tona wharanga, engari inaianei, me whaiwhakaaro mo raurangi. Ki te hunuku te whanau, ka hunuku ki hea? (ENGINE RUMBLES) (DRUM ROLL) Let's have a look at some property. Yvanca'd come up. She went on to the computer one day and she sort of said to me, 'Well, you know, this place, Nelson, in the South Island, it's the sunniest spot.' And I'm a sun worshipper. You can still buy a brand-new three-bedroom home for around $600,000. And that immediately sort of tickled my fancy, because I've never been down to the South Island in terms of living. If we play our cards right, we can, you know, have a brand-new home and still cut our mortgage by quite a big chunk. I've always been fascinated by that place, you know. That's the canoe of Maui, you know? Te Waka a Maui. I've been on the 'Fish' all my life. Ara te taura herenga tangata ki konei, ki te Tonga o Tamaki Makaurau, a, he kaupapa nui te hunuku ki Te Wai Pounamu. I don't hate Auckland; I love Auckland. I probably always will love Auckland. Um, you know, it's just time to move. * Gordon and Yvanca Toi have decided it's time to move from their family home here in Mangere Bridge, so they've put it on the market. You know, for us, this home is very very special, and I know that whoever ends up living here is going to enjoy it as much as we have. And we've put our heart and soul into developing this place. No te whanau e tatari ana kia hokona te whare, kua ata rangahaua te oranga i Golden Bay. You can still buy a brand-new three-bedroom home for around $600,000. (UPLIFTING COUNTRY MUSIC) The first time that we decided to go down south, we booked a flight to Nelson. We drove into Mapua as our first stop. We just jumped out of the car, and I think both of us immediately had a feeling of, 'Wow! This... This is it. 'This is beautiful! 'I don't think we wanna go (LAUGHS) anywhere else,' and that was only our first stop! People are really friendly. I mean, you know, that's the thing that's gonna attract anybody to a location. It's the people, you know? Mapua ` it's just a half an hour's drive from the city of Nelson. Kua haramai au ki te tutaki ki a Gordon raua ko Yvanca, me te tamaiti ranginamu ` me Tumanako. We're gonna have a look at some property listings and get a bit of a feel for the place. Gordon and Yvanca have agreed to meet me at the local Mapua estate agent for a look at some properties. Gidday. Hi! I'm here to see Gordon and Yvanca. Just through there. Ah. There. Kia ora. Oh! (LAUGHS) Kia ora, bro! How are you? How are you? Mmm! I'm good. I'm good. Nice to meet you. Tena koe, bro. Mmm! Tena koe. Kia ora. Ki a koe hoki, e hoa! Mama? (CHUCKLES) So? How's it all going? Good. Oh, yeah. You know, it's a process. We're just kinda looking at a few opportunities that Mapua has, and, yeah, there's a lot of them down here, so you know, it's gonna make it a little bit hard to pick the right one, I think. Eh? There's a few places around. We're looking at a lifestyle block, maybe. We've never had much more land what we generally have in Auckland, which is a backyard. I need to a big workshop to do my thing in, and a studio as well. There's a bit of a cross-range. Like, this is definitely bigger section. It's over 3000m2. A little bit off the beaten track, I suppose, but a good price, you know, definitely, for a lot of land. And then these sections are a bit more closer into the Mapua township. Obviously a little bit smaller ` only, like, 500m2 ` but definitely enough land there to build a nice little homestead. I think a lot of Aucklanders would wanna sort of come down here. I hope they don't, but, you know. But there you go. Well, you've obviously got a lot to think about, so best of luck on your journey. It's exciting as well. Yeah. Very exciting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wish you the best of luck, and hopefully I'll see you again when you're a little bit further down your journey, maybe even with a new house, maybe with a new section. Who knows? Sounds exciting. All right. Kia ora, bro. Kia ora. Keep up the good work. See ya later, bro. (CHUCKLES) (BOTH LAUGH) Engari ano, i Tamaki, kaore raua mo te kotiti. Ka nui hoki te wariu o to raua whare no te hokotanga mai. Na whai ano, i mama noa iho te whakatau kia hunuku ki wahi ke. Koia kei tenei paraka whenua. At the other side, we can have the garage, and that will make it easy to come in from the road as well, of course. Yeah. Nah, good choice. We have designed our house. So Signature Homes down in Nelson has helped us with that. So, these are our new plans, babes. Can I have a look? Can I have a look? Can I have a look? Does it come with a Monaro? No. Oh. It's gonna have, like, a separate studio for Gordon to work from for his tattooing. This is the final...? Yup. Sliding doors? Yeah. It shows how big our property is. It is extensive. It's gonna have a workshop at the back, where he can do his carving. It also has a little gym for myself, you know? I love to do weightlifting. We're just waiting for council consent, really. Now, see, we've got bedroom two. That's my bed. That's a good room. You know, why that's a good room? Cos you can make a lot of noise in there. (CHUCKLES) (GIGGLES) So we don't hear you and your homies jumping up and down on the bed. I te ahua nei, kua rarangi mai nga mea katoa mo te whanau Toi. It's the right time to move; they've found the right place to move to. So all they need to do is sell their Auckland house. Ko tona tikanga, he mama noa iho, ne? E kao. (SERIOUS MUSIC) It is hard at the moment. The banks are just not that generous at the moment. So if you really have less than 10%, they're not gonna, you know. Engari kua toru marama te whare e noho ana i te makete whare, kua tae te wa e hui ana te whanau i nga apiha hokowhare. Also wanted to touch base because our 90 days have sort of expired. I need to know that we're gonna be doing something else so we're not in the too-hard basket. Nah, not at all. You know? Yeah. Absolutely. We're happy to continue on` Yeah. ...and push on. It's just whether you guys are comfortable. We're happy with how things have gone. It's just unfortunate that we're not sold yet. Ki te kore ratou e hoko i te whare, tena pea, ka mate ki te uru i nga mokete e rua. Pai tu, pai hinga. (EXCITING ELECTRONIC MUSIC) If I had my way, you know, I'd be living on a beach in Thailand or somewhere like that. But my little Dutch girl over here, she loves New Zealand. You know? She loves it. And she doesn't wanna leave it. (ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC) I guess we're both more focused on the new start than it would be to, like, 'Oh my God, what if we would ever have to go back?' (HUFFS) We'll see. We've still got a lot of things to do. Yeah. You know? And I think the move to the South Island is gonna help us` You know, another stepping stone to that destination, wherever that may be. And that's Gordon and Yvanca's entire lives packed up in boxes. Next stop ` Mapua ` Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka. This bold move for us to go to the South Island, we embrace it... Yeah. ...100%. Whether or not we can come back to Auckland, who cares? Mm. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, you know? (TATTOO MACHINE BUZZES) Gordon and Yvanca Toi are saying goodbye to Tamaki Makaurau and setting their sights on beautiful Mapua in Golden Bay. E kawea atu ana a ratou taputapu katoa. A, e haere ana te whanau ki te hararei i Horana kia watea ai nga ngaio hokowhare ki te mahi i a ratou mahi ki te makete o Tamaki Makaurau. Engari, i te tuatahi ake, kia kotahi atu ano te kotiti i nga papatipu o Gordon. We're sort of heading into where I actually grew up, in the heart of Otara. Yeah. The street that I lived on was actually Otara Rd. Oh, yeah? Yeah. We'll go down there and have a look-see if the house is still there. You'll see all the houses here, they're still the old state houses. OK, so, just here on my... left,... Yeah. ...is where I grew up. Oh, yup. 86. Right over there. 86. Oh, yeah. 86. Look, son, this is Papa's old house. This was when he was a little boy like you. So these are all my cousins. These are all the Repias. Yeah. All down here, there's all family, you know? We're all family. This was the original marae over here. Wow. And then at the back there, they built this flash one. And there it is over there. Oh, right! Hei kona ra, Tamaki Makaurau, me ona whairawa katoa; nau iho mai, kia ora ra, Mapua ` Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka. We will miss the people that we've` Yeah. ...grown close to over here that will stay back in Auckland. But, um, it's not the place itself that we'll miss. Each one of those spirals; is one of those characteristics of your dad. To see those people, we're only a short plane trip away. And the house that we're gonna build over there is gonna be big enough for us to look after people if they wanna come and visit. The things that I'm gonna miss in Auckland ` I will definitely miss my children; um, also my granddaughter, Nia. She's, you know, a big part of my life. You know, it's nice to be a grandfather. So I'm definitely gonna miss her. But we're already making plans to have them join us regularly down there in Mapua. (UPBEAT, JOYFUL MUSIC) Back in Golden Bay. Although,... it's not looking that golden out there right now. But we know that it happens. We know that it's good. Kei konei ano au i whakatu, a, kua timata taku taraiwa ki Mapua ki te tutaki ano ki a Gordon raua ko Yvanca, kia kite hoki e pehea ana te ahua ki te whakatunga mai o te whare hou ` mena... ranei... kua timata ki te hanga mai. (HAPPY, UPBEAT MUSIC) Kia ora. Oh, kia ora, bro. (CHUCKLES) Oh, kia ora! (ALL LAUGH) Oh, sheesh, that` Pehea ana? Oh, kei te pai. Kei te pai. Kei te pehea korua? Pai ana. Pai ana. Pai ana. Ora tonu. This is beautiful, this little spot right here. Yup. Ae. Yeah. Yeah? Whereabouts is Tumanako? Well, you know, Tumanako's already made friendly with the locals, so he has got a new friend, and he's just at the back there with his new mate, and already blending in, like it's, you know, been always like this. Just really sort of reminds me of the '70s, really, you know, here. You know, just, people are generally wanting to communicate with you, you know? In Auckland, I think, because it's become so big, we've kinda lost a lot that. What are you doing for accommodation down here? Cos you've gone from your place that you guys had up there, up in the big city,... Yup. ...to what down here? Um, to... We've got a little rental place that we found on Airbnb. And we've got alpacas next to us and things like that ` you know, sheep and cows. So we'll just make the best of it! (LAUGHTER) What are you doing for work down here, both of you? I have found a job in law again. So I'm with Pitt & Moore, which is a local firm here in Nelson. I'm looking after the little fella while she's at work at the moment. Met up with some of the locals down here from Te Whakatu, so hopefully, you know, we'll get together and maybe do a bit of work with the local people down here, our local iwi. Well, speaking of your kainga noho, let's go and have a look at the section, eh, because I'm keen to check it out. BOTH: Yeah. She's a big slap of concrete, mate, but... Yeah. (LAUGHS) ...it's worth a look. A visualisation, eh? Ae, ae, ae. Exactly! (LAUGHS) Yeah, yeah. All right. Mai i te kakano. Cool. Let's do it. Their new section already has the foundation of Gordon and Yvanca's flash new whare. So, ahem, a little bit open plan at the moment. (LAUGHS) Yep! (LAUGHTER) Talk me through it. Help me to visualise what's happening here. So where you come in, this is gonna be the garage, right here. And where we're standing is right on the middle of where the tattoo studio ` Gordon's tattoo studio ` is going to be. Which is really important. Yeah. Which is very important. Yeah. So that's gonna be right here. So this is gonna be our main entry to our place. Hallway? Yes, this is the hallway. Yup. Yes. And this is coming out into the kitchen and dining area, that is gonna be over there. Kids bedrooms are gonna be on that side` The other side! (LAUGHS) The total other side, yeah. Yup. So we're gonna have three bedrooms over on that side, including the family bathroom and a separate toilet. And then the lounge is over on that side. So that's sort of, like, the layout of the plan. And what about places to play, for Tumanako? Just in the back there, we've got a little stream. So I plan to catch eels with the little fella and things like that. And we're sure when he makes friends down here, which he's already done, they'll be down there playing in the creek as well. Have you had fun putting this together? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, you gotta remember that for me, it's a huge thing, because I was just a little Maori boy from Otara, you know? And so to have the opportunity to do this with my wife and my children is a real big deal. We've waited a long time for this place, so, you know, a few more months ain't gonna matter that much. Exactly. Yup. All right, well, all the best. I look forward to my invitation when you've got walls and furniture. That would be awesome! (LAUGHTER) And where there's a bit of sun as well. I look forward to that time. That would be nice, yeah. Sunny Nelson, where are you? (LAUGHS) Yeah. Kia ora. Ka pai. This inter-island move has certainly been one of the biggest and boldest that I've seen yet. And I'm sure that the sun here in this part of the country is gonna shine on this whanau for many years to come. (UPBEAT MUSIC) Captions by Glenna Casalme www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 (LOUD RUMBLING) (MAN VOCALISES) He mea tautoko na Te Mangai Paho.