Interview about where things are at

In this video interview Mel’s daughter Holly interviews Mel and Simon about why things are taking so long!

This vlog is part of our four-year journey to bring back the old Rocky Bay store. We bought the site as a community project with family ties to Waiheke, fully intending to rebuild the store in its original spirit and lease it out rather than run it ourselves. Early wins—like clearing 30 tonnes of overgrowth—were visible; since then, most progress has been invisible and paperwork-heavy. The biggest drag is dependency: culvert redesign informs foundations; foundations inform stormwater; only then can we lodge building and resource consents.

We also lost more than a year trying to pair the store with a new house. Costs blew out after working drawings (about 40% up despite no design change), so we shelved the house to protect the store budget. Consultant and report fees stack up, updates are required because timelines stretch, and we spend time on this every week. To stay close to the site, we bought a separate house on the island so we can maintain the land and keep things moving. Where are we now? Culvert redesign just landed; next is foundations, then back to stormwater, then consents. Best case: consents lodged by December 2025, consent/pricing focus in 2026, and if seasons align, the earliest start on building is 2027. We’re tired, absolutely, but not quitting—this is the hard middle of the story before the doors open again.