Help The Anderson's After Home Was Swept Away

Gavin and Kylie Anderson have a dream, that dream is to escape the rent trap, live sustainably, be independent, and to one day finally own their own property.

Their dream started to become a reality with the purchase of the Lady Jule, a 40ft 1939 Kauri Bridgedecker and the intention to transform her into a sustainable, moveable, tiny home on the water for themselves and their three children.

With their dream only weeks away from being realized, it was smashed to pieces overnight on Tuesday 19 July 2016. The Lady Jule, years of savings, months of hard physical work and sacrifices sank and was subsequently smashed to pieces in Rocky Bay.

As Kylie’s sister I have witnessed Gavin and Kylie work tirelessly to bring their dream into reality. Firstly the hard work to purchase the Lady Jule; both of them working more than full time for a holiday management company while Gavin continued to work within our family business as well. They’ve sacrificed Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries, they’ve stuck to a very strict family budget and seriously downsized life.

That first goal was reached early this year and Lady Jule was purchased..... which is when the real hard work began! Kylie has held the fort at home and also planned the design and interiors for Lady Jule, along with moving from one short term rental to the next with three young children. While Gavin has worked his full time day job and then continued to work early into the mornings and weekends on the maintenance, fit out and preparation to transform The Lady into a family tiny home with help from a local boat builder. Kylie and Gavin have put everything they have, physically, financially and emotionally into their dream for the family. Every late night, all of the missed family time and each house move has been worth it with the knowledge that very soon their dream would be realized.

At first we thought she had just sunk, all hands to the ready for salvage! Perhaps a bit more hard work but certainly not the end. But I was with Gavin when he got the phone call from the Harbour Master advising him that his dream for his family, months of their hard work, all of their savings and all of their sacrifice was in pieces strewn along the beaches of Waiheke. It was all for nothing and there was nothing left. I hugged him and cried and then it was back to action stations to organize salvage of the wreck and avoid any possible environmental damage.

For anyone who knows it, re-entering the Auckland rental market is a challenge in itself, let alone having to find the drive to start all over again. It is a real blow. But Kylie’s first reaction (After a few very rare explicit four letter words) was “I guess we just start over, what else are we going to do?”. Positivity in a nut shell, they are down but certainly not out!

This is where you can help! Gav & Kylie are not the sort to give up, sit in a dark corner and cry (I'll do a bit of that on their behalf), they are already making a plan to get back on their feet (or sea legs as the case may be).

We've opened this page in the hope that we can further encourage them take those first steps to start again and not give up on the dream. “Give a little, or give a lot”, when there is nothing left every bit of help is appreciated.

A break down of what they spent trying to create their dream home:

Lady Jule $22,500

Boat Builder, materials & furnishings $12,500

Only one insurance company was prepared to insure Lady Jule due to her age (77 years) and her location (Rocky Bay). The insurance proposal was being created but nothing has been signed & Kylie & Gavin have been left to pick up the pieces.

You can read more about their story by checking out the link below & having a look at the pictures in the gallery tab above.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/82376436/waiheke-couple-left-in-tears-after-gale-sinks-new-home