Hey guys welcome back to our channel. We have got a lot going on here at the moment. After being closed
for almost two years we are now ready to open our resort for a very limited time um just for some
local bookings so. We're not ready yet and that's kind of what the point of this video is - yeah we're getting ready
With so much going on in the resort at the moment I feel like we haven't had the balance that we
normally strive for in terms of just actual time and spending really quality time with the kids so
you'll see in this ep we try and get out and do some stuff in the water with the kids. It doesn't
exactly go to plan um but that's life. So it's been pretty chaotic here and
I think you guys are gonna see that, now. This is the uh this is our film location
this is where we do our talking head in this tiny little patch and then it's just like this
chaos beneath it it should be beautiful but see it's this is life it's all about framing
[Katie Voiceover] If you are new to our channel, welcome to our little island tribe.
As you can see we live off grid on an ultra remote island with our little family
Our island life has been an absolute roller coaster over the past two years
We have been doing our best to survive this very long pandemic,
while still having a good time and now also sharing it all with you here on YouTube
In 2020, as international borders closed our business was forced to shut down temporarily
Suddenly our busy life running a SCUBA resort became busy in a whole different way. Maintaining
the island with virtually no staff, carrying on with redevelopment work we had already planned
and recently we also started building our dream family home right here on the island.
Filming this episode was not particularly easy for us. The amount of general maintenance needed
at the moment is overwhelming and after so long it actually feels really surreal
to think about having staff and people here on the island with us again. But we
are genuinely very excited to be putting in the extra energy to prepare the resort for this short
spurt of local business over Christmas and New Year. It will be refreshing and we are hopeful that it
won't be too long before we see normal tourism resume once more. We're very interested to know
how you are feeling about international travel and whether you're itching to escape to paradise,
or not so much. Leave us a comment below and let us know. P.S. hit that little red button to subscribe,
it's free and it really does help our channel. Thanks guys. [Jase] this is clay
a new face back on the island. Clay where have you been? Why haven't you been helping with the
renovations recently? Where have you been?
Why?
Woohooo, new baby! Girl or boy?
Boy
Junior Clayton Vora. Junior Clayton Vora - nice! So Clay's been away a little bit of time um obviously having the new
bub he's back helping out as well he's one of our four carpenters that we've got we work on
shift. That's pretty cool and just another reason why this opening period is so crucial because
you know life goes on despite COVID being you know rampaging around the world like people having
babies kids are having to go to school people are getting sick they've got medical expenses so
that's really the reason why we're opening up again for this very short period of time
it's an enormous amount of work to get this resort ready for such a short opening period
but at least it's gonna provide a bit more employment and opportunity for
our staff which have obviously been struggling financially for the last two years.
Do you think it's a good idea we're opening. Yeah.
You're sick of my face are ya mate? [Topha] Yes. *lauighing*
[Jase] Really nice
So there's a lot more painting and stuff still to be done but what we're trying to do right now
is all the jobs that need four weeks to settle so all these gardens are planted out here you'll see
like the trees all begin to wilt. When you transplant them so they're just cuttings
that are basically stuck in the ground but um give them a few weeks in this
environment and they're lush and green again. Arlo's decided that he's seen some
maintenance that needs to be done in the cabin so he's told me we have to go do a deck check
because he knows where there's some boards that need to be fixed up. Where's my little apprentice
oh here he comes.
This is arlo he's very clever, he can help you with whatever.
Inspections, construction and repairs. Home renovation or gardening affairs. It's Arlo's Project Management
Silly boys, where are we gonna put that
In the bin
[Arlo] The ramp looks good
Good ramp on it but there's definitely some timbers here look at these ones
yeah it just hangs out the side of the leaf roof it doesn't do anything
It just gets rotten, we're going to cut that off and then maybe a few boards over here what
do you think about these ones? Just move the post just move them in a little bit
yeah why so the deck is nice and small so if we rake this whole deck one day
It, it won't be finished on one day. [Jase] To rake it? [Arlo] I mean to sweep it.
You're saying it's too big we need to make it smaller so we can sweep it more easily
There's a lot of sense in that mate.
We need to cut this bit off
Cut it off. Yeah it is growing straight in from this hibiscus.
All right and then what about the leaf roof
some holes and leaf roof so it needs a new leaf roof as well doesn't it
I think the inside is all alright yeah the inside's alright so I think we need to bring bed sheets
the bed sheets might be ahead of time Bobby's over there
Daddy here comes rain. [Jase] Here comes the rain. Watch out for that big log
Who's that? Hi Jimmy. Give Jimmy a wave. Does this leave roof need work as well? Yes
Yeah and the floor. Can't believe yeah well I think the timbers are okay we're gonna repaint the
floor. I think maybe we'll have to take a little bit of this deck off because it's a little bit too
big. [Jase] What? More deck off there's not gunna be any deck left at the right you're going.
There's a rain storm
Are we stuck in the rain? Yeah I don't really like it. No it's not very fun
All right we can't wait for the rain so we're going so we've
down to boardies and undies and we're just gonna go.
Go go go
One thing Jase and I are really excited about with um having guests coming into
the resort again is that we get to be a bit excited about food and one element of being
a resort manager is managing the menu. Jase and I both absolutely love cooking we love
being a bit adventurous with the types of food that we have here on the islands
You can hear the guys banging away they are currently repairing the laundry
Complete re-vamp of the laundry so we're redoing that end section there to be our
linen storage and then we are gutting the rest of it changing out where all
the sinks go the benches go all the washing machines and dryers go that water sterilizer
hey what are you doing
yeah so we've knocked out we're changing all this out so we're just shutting off these windows and
doors that used to be here and turning that entryway which was basically a useless space
before into a new linen storage and got some dehumidifiers for it because it's very wet here
fixing up all the cabins that we're going to open we're only opening a
small section of the resort so we're just giving them a bit of a revamp because
just simple things like timbers fascia boards have fallen down
um some of the flashings have rotted out and stuff like that this this environment is so corrosive
it just eats everything it's actually not salt ridden it's just the moisture content it is
so wet here all the time and looks like we've got quite a bit of leaf work to do
what happens when particularly um in these leaf roofs here that are underneath a tree canopy
it dumps a lot of leaf litter on and if you're not clearing that out regularly it just rots through
pretty darn quick so we've got a bit of leaf work to do as well
but um that's pretty fast once we get the leaf manufactured for us actually
and um it is a lot of work to maintain but there's no doubt about it it's just an epic
effect keeps the building so much cooler and just gives it that really nice local touch so
that is lap number eight at the resort this morning, getting my steps in
Putting in some new plants at the front of cabin three.
Are you wearing your apron? Yeah you look pretty cool dude. Because we're gunna make a
banana raisin cake! Yeah okay I'm gonna gobble it up. In you go, wrong door
The guys are sitting there working in complete darkness because I turned the power up yesterday
when I was rerouting some cable because we're sheeting an area that wasn't sheeted before
and I forgot to turn the power back on classic diligent carpenters who just keep working
completely in the dark for almost an entire day because I didn't turn the power back on
so now I'm going to turn the power back on so we obviously generate all of our own power at the
moment and we'll be talking about this later in a later ep when we talk about the power situation
for our new house but at the moment everything's on diesel generation and luckily we've got a very
small gen set we bought just before COVID which is keeping the resort going a bunch of generators
and they have power. All right I have put a light in for the boys
It should make it a little bit easier to work
[Katie] Making a new garden. Making it look beautiful again.
[Katie] Oh
Bobby's doing all the hard work for me. Crab
and he's going to pick it all out yeah Bobs?
We have reconvened for a coconut. Cheers. It is so hot. It is a hot day today
Yeah man and I've done the full rounds
I'm just gonna grab some dill from the garden here. I think we've got dill
I'm hoping there's dill will go so beautifully. No dill but we did get some Mexican coriander and
some garlic chives so I think that'll go really nicely with um some crabmeat some mayonnaise some
lime juice and some spring onions should be making quite a nice creamy crab salad yum
Is it good Filly? Good what do you think Arlo? Really yummy crab yup okay
Recipe approved? No no it's yum yum yum good yummy then bread. Well that's a statement
that's a statement in itself from a three-year-old. [Ophelia] Yummy like a bread roll.
Good.
*music - Young, Wild & Alive by WEARETHEGOOD*