Apologies loyal readers for the absence of regular updates. Life has been rather hectic since we got back to the island. So much for taking things quietly…

The kitchen renovation is turning out to be more complicated than we first imagined. I’ve also been tied up as part of the organising committee for the Great Barrier Island Wharf 2 Wharf event. And I’ve been pushing to set up an ambulance over here as we have no formal ambulance service on the island.

Renovations, as mentioned, are taking up a lot of our time. We’ve become very good at the demolition aspect of renovations. I initially only wanted to do some small changes, but over time the trusty sledge hammer has been put to good use removing walls and plasterboard, and the project has grown bigger each day.

This was a bathroom...

Oops, naughty sledge hammer!

During the last renovation at Waiwera, I vowed that we’d never try to live in the same space that we were renovating. So when we moved to the Barrier, I was delighted to see that there was a separate sleepout that we could move to when we renovated. Unfortunately we started renovating the sleepout, then we had to fill it with everything we needed to renovate the house, so the sleepout became a storage area. So now we’re back to the same situation we had at Waiwera: camping in our own house!

I’ve seconded the BBQ table and dragged it into the kitchen to act as a kitchen bench. Unfortunately it also acts as a work bench. Dinner is cooked on a single gas burner as I pulled out both the gas stove, and the wood fired stove. Hot water for the dishes is also heated on this single gas ring as I pulled out the hot water cylinder. See how I said we were getting really good at demolition!

Look, a designer kitchen

So now that we’ve made a complete mess and devalued our piece of paradise significantly, I thought we should have a go at putting things back together again. So we built our first wall. A non-structural internal wall for my walk-in pantry – nothing too complicated, and nothing needing a building consent or registered master builder. Having demolished numerous walls over the years, I now have a fair idea of how they’re constructed. So we set to it, and after day one we had the framing in place; and by day two it was ‘gibbed’; and on day three, much to our delight, it was still standing. There is hope for us yet.

Up goes the framing...

...and on goes the gib

Then we thought we’d graduate to pulling out a window. Again no building consent is required if you don’t modify the existing lintel and framing. The window needed to go to make room for the gi-normous eye level gas wall oven that I scored off TradeMe. And we need somewhere to squeeze our double door fridge. So Peter got to a flying start with the sledge hammer, and one elusive framing nail later, and the glass window we wanted to save for another project was in pieces. Certainly one way of opening the window to get some fresh air.

Oops, just a little broken glass

The day was getting a little late, and after stopping for an extended afternoon tea with a visiting neighbour, we elected to fill in the hole the next day. Bad move.

The next day arrived with a vengeance. The heavens opened up, and only a slither of building paper separated the kitchen-cum-workshop from the elements. And the forecast for the week was for much of the same.

Fortunately we woke to sunshine this morning, so armed with the knowledge that two storm fronts were on the way, we made haste and filled and sealed the window gap just in the nick of time. Nothing like a deadline to get one motivated!

Building on the island is a pleasantly interesting experience. Sure, we’re a few miles (about 50 miles as the crow flies) from the nearest Bunnings or Mitre 10 Mega, but the local hardware stores  make up for things (yes, there are two on the island – both about 3 minutes drive away). The other day when we ordered the plasterboard for the walls, it was delivered by truck within 20 minutes! Now you try and get service like that on the mainland! And what you can’t buy locally, you can generally order in, or buy over the Internet. I’m busy buying the kitchen cabinets over the Internet. And we’ve learned how to secure wallboards and seal out the elements by downloading building and installation instructions from the Internet. Peter is complaining of tummy pain, so I’m just reading up on how to take out his appendix over the Internet (just joking).

It's just been work, work, work...

Okay, so we did get out in the boat for a bit too.