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LifestyleTranscript
00:00We're starting a big challenge to renovate this cabin in the rainforest, with the help
00:05of all the goats of course.
00:07Before we get into the hard work and weeks spent restoring this fairyland cabin, let
00:11me tell you its story.
00:13About 20 years ago our dad built this structure.
00:16He cut down tallowood trees from the edge of the orchards and pine trees that stood in
00:20this very spot.
00:21He chainsawed notches for branches to sit in and he crafted this cabin by the water's
00:26edge.
00:27We learned to swim in this lake and we were taught so many lessons by the dragonflies
00:30and lily pads and endless childhood exploration.
00:34As each season passed, we watched ourselves grow up.
00:40Since our dad died, the cabin has fell into a bit of a ruin.
00:48The roof has many holes in it and it leaks everywhere.
00:51The floor went completely mouldy and mostly, we'd be forgetting to have fun like we used
00:55to here.
00:56Although in the challenge of teaching myself tasks that I'd never thought I'd be able
00:59to do, I'm fixing this place up and letting it foster new memories, starting with the
01:05massive job of replacing the floor.
01:07The goats have made it so messy in here.
01:16It is pure chaos at this point.
01:18There is goat poop and sheep poop everywhere.
01:20They've dug holes to sleep in.
01:23We had the cyclone and then we had another flood this weekend.
01:26It's just, it's gone pretty rough.
01:30There's a lot to do.
01:31So I'm not sure what order but job number one is definitely to fix this whole floor and
01:37complete it all.
01:38And then the next jobs are going to be, we need to fix this kitchen so much water gets
01:44in and everything's a bit rotten and everything's pretty dirty.
01:46So that's on the list.
01:48I think some sort of side to protect it from weather and need to be done at some point.
01:54The fire pit is beautiful and I want it to stay the same but we do have a hot water system
02:01attached to the fire which is supposed to heat a bathtub over in the bathhouse.
02:05So that's on the job list.
02:08The bathhouse is indefinite on the job list because Tungai ate part of it and now it's
02:13completely wonky and falling over so fixing that up is big.
02:19What else?
02:20There's a lot.
02:21Building a window for sure.
02:23Putting sides on.
02:24New roof, obviously.
02:26There's a lot.
02:29Speaking of the wonky bathhouse, it's got a bit more wonky since last time I checked a
02:34week ago so that one might have to move up the list, it's really not straight.
02:41So yesterday I spent many many hours just on one board but my uncle helped me today and
02:47now I think that I'm ready for the next part.
02:51The floor was ply and it went mouldy so I'm replacing it with second hand hardwood boards.
02:56It's not an easy job perched up here metres above the ground with tools that I borrowed from
03:00my uncle and to be honest I have no idea how to use.
03:03But in the theme of teaching myself new things, I'm just blowing with it and seeing how hard
03:08it really is to build a floor.
03:11Every day when I get down here I feel so excited and full of energy but quickly this hard process
03:17deflates my energy.
03:19These boards are second hand and a lot of them are warped so I need to carefully fit them
03:23in like puzzle pieces.
03:24Most of them need to be chiselled into place.
03:27I haven't counted how many hours I've spent on this project because I can't even imagine.
03:32But the floor that is slowly getting bigger and bigger is fuelling my inspiration.
03:36I feel like every time I get here the job seems a little bit more overwhelming which doesn't
03:56make sense because I'm supposed to be getting through it but this is taking so long.
04:01So I think I'm going to do a little organisation today and I'm going to start like the problem
04:05is I keep running into these boards that are in the way so I'm going to move all the boards
04:10a little bit across and then I'm going to start like organising them into which ones I'll
04:13use first because then the process won't take so long hopefully.
04:18When I started on this journey of learning to build this new skill felt much more practical
04:22than creative.
04:24Especially while I was doing jobs like these where there is one correct way and the steps
04:28are strictly laid out in front of me.
04:31I quickly realised that yeah there might be only one way to do this and yeah I might feel
04:37like a robot set out to do this task lacking of any free will or artistic touch but it isn't
04:43about the end result.
04:45It's about the time spent laying these boards and in some ways this simple task is profoundly
04:51creative.
04:53As I work I'm analysing everything going on in my life right now.
04:56I'm thinking and questioning and considering and every staple pressed in I leave a little
05:01memory indented into the beam.
05:04I look back at the weeks of work I've spent here and I see every corner etched with different
05:09moods and thoughts and memories.
05:12Then I look at this whole building and I see the same creativity woven between each element.
05:17The beams that my dad felled from the forest and the notches that he carved from them.
05:21I imagine all the things that he would have thought about as he built this cabin and I
05:25almost see these memories engraved in the structure.
05:29I see that creativity isn't a choice it's the trail that we leave behind.
05:34It's not necessarily the building or the painting or the dress that we create but it's the way
05:38that we do it.
05:39It's the stories that we weave or the lessons that we pass on.
05:44The roofers have come to replace the roof today and we've found that because there's
05:56been holes in the roof that the beams have gotten quite rotten so they need replacing so
06:00we need to find some wood to replace them with.
06:03So we're searching everywhere in trees that we've felled in the last few months to see if
06:07they'll work or maybe we should try to fell something new and try to replace it with that.
06:13It's quite a situation we have a few hours less to find beams but I found berries.
06:22I don't have time for this.
06:31There's some small radiata pines behind me and it's on the edge of the mango orchard and these
06:37are invasive trees so I think that's a good option.
06:40There's nothing that's quite good enough they're not on the edge of the forest and we're worried
06:45about felling them in the forest they'll get caught up in all the vines which isn't safe
06:50and we're not really confident on the chainsaw for that so I think we'll keep searching.
06:55There's some brush box here on the top of the hill and it's really good because it'll stay it's a
07:00very hard wood so we're thinking maybe either this one or this one and we feel confident cutting
07:06them down because I think they've got nothing to hang up in so it should be pretty easy for beginner
07:13chainsawers. I think we're going to give up we don't feel confident chopping the trees down because
07:18they're all pretty hard and I think it's best to just leave it because we don't want to do anything
07:25unsafe. After a long morning spent searching and a bit of a failed mission we headed back to the roofers
07:31and realized that we could just move one of the side pines and replace it again later when we have
07:35more time. It was sad to finally say goodbye to the roof that had been here for the last 20 years
07:42and before that it had been in our childhood home and before that it was the walls of a movie theater
07:47in our hometown. It has lived many lives but the screw holes from all of these lives have rusted through
07:55a bit too much sadly. We got proper roofers to do this job because as much as I'm loving to push
08:03myself to learn all these new things roofing is a bit too complex and dangerous of a skill for now.
08:09I think it's always good to know your limits.
08:21To rest is an important element of being creative. Inhale and take all the inspiration that you can
08:29so that you can exhale and give your interpretation and expression. To pause gives time to reflect.
08:36The creek is our favorite place to just sit still for a bit and of course Happy the Duck always comes
08:41for a play too. There's always a new band of the creek to explore and the joy of this little duck fills
08:47us with so much inspiration. To rest and to work or to give and to take is the foundation of how nature
08:54interacts. The stream flows heavily in the summer and collects big rains spreading them to feed trees
09:01and animals. But in winter when the rain slows the creek will turn into a trickle. It rests in the
09:07knowledge of slowed growth. It pauses and shifts within its own reflection. While starting this
09:16huge project and restoring the old cabin I've been working so hard every day but I'm reminding myself
09:21to pause often enough to reflect on my own work. To sit for long enough to feel my inspiration grow.
09:27Today is the day that I'm going to finish this floor. It's taking so long but starting with pulling
09:35out this board because it's too wonky it's not gonna work as much as I try. Since the joy of using
09:44secondhand materials sometimes they're beyond warped but also the joy is that they're so beautiful
09:51I am almost finished with these boards and honestly I can't believe it. This has been
10:00one of the hardest jobs that I have ever done in my whole life. I think I have four boards to go
10:05and then I'm done. I don't know what I'll do next. I think I need a break. I'm on the home stretch now
10:10there's really not much to go and I'm so proud. It's looking so beautiful. We've had a lot of rain and
10:15I was worried that all of the moisture would get into the boards and then they might pop out but
10:21they haven't so that's great. So the poles go out this far and so I'm trying to work out where the
10:31floor should go to. I mean there's the risk of moisture getting in the further I go but hopefully
10:37the roof will cover it and I just don't know what's necessary because you can't like you can't sit up
10:41in here so you don't really need a floor but I do need some sort of protection so that no one can fall
10:47out that way so I will put a little hole in here. My next job is definitely fixing up this window.
10:54It's not very safe and it's completely rotted but I love the cute kind of elf-y look so I want to keep
11:00that so I think I'll copy off dad's old technique of getting timber from the forest and then cutting
11:05it and making it into these cute carved windows and I'll just add a bit more and maybe put some glass
11:11in here so that it's safe so that no one leans out it. I am so close at this point so I'm just gonna
11:18put I think I've decided I'm gonna put one board here and then one board here and then I'm gonna put
11:22another pole across just for safety so that there's no place to fall from and so at the moment what I'm
11:30doing is making a curve around this board what I'm going to do is measure every point this
11:49I don't know if this is a real technique or if this is just something I've made up
11:53okay this is the moment that we're gonna find out if I did it right or wrong if it's oh it looks good it looks good
12:23this is the last order it's going to be
12:53this is the last screw in the whole boards I think I'm done after this I'm so excited
13:14it looks so good I feel overwhelmingly proud I cannot believe that I finished this beautiful floor and
13:21it looks so incredible as well if I'm being completely honest when I started this job I
13:26thought that there was no way that I could finish it and honestly when I was 50% through the job I
13:31thought even more that there was no way that I could ever finish it but now I'm sitting on the most
13:37beautiful floor ever ever crafted and I just feel so proud I think this job has been like it's been
13:44really hard to be honest it's been one that has made me cry many times but just seeing
13:51all the work come into being and I don't know sitting here just feels so special I feel like
13:58the whole time that I was working even though my dad isn't here to teach me I feel like he almost was
14:04because I'm in the rafters that he built in this beautiful space and I'm just kind of looking at
14:10all the different techniques that he used and all of these things and I feel like I'm learning from that
14:15so it's been really special
14:45so
14:49you
14:51you
14:53you