Nearly seven months on from Cyclone Gabrielle, Karl and Becky Donovon are back on their land and have a home again.
The Marumaru family are still awaiting an insurance decision on the fate of their 100-plus-year-old character homestead, which was swamped by flooding.
While their house is unliveable, the versatile and optimistic couple have repurposed their woolshed, transforming it into a four-bedroom home.
The Donovans have lived at the 7-ha block, 20km from town, for eight years. The property is their home and also their income source. They rear calves on the block, along with Karl working as a mechanic and firewood contractor and Becky, a massage therapist.
Becky said they never thought they would lose the house that has stood there for over a century. “Then, over one night, everything we had built up was gone.”
Becky was seven months pregnant when Cyclone Gabrielle struck. “I was restless as we were getting heavy rain, and in the 2022 weather events, the river, which comes down from Te Reinga, had come up to the bottom of the clothesline. Tairawhiti had declared a Civil Defence emergency, and I knew our headwaters came from Gisborne and high tide was coming.
“By 3am, we started packing up, and within half an hour, the river had risen by a metre and had increased so much in width.
“We packed up the kids, Maddie, nine and Tommy, seven, and as I drove out, the river was halfway up my tyres. I couldn’t see if I was driving on the driveway or in the drain.”
Becky drove next door to her sister, Laura Jerram, and by this stage, the river was swirling around in all directions caused by a build-up of woody debris at nearby bridges.
Karl drove out 10 minutes behind his wife, and by then, the river was over the bonnet of his truck. "The water was rising so quickly, and being pregnant, I felt so vulnerable and just wanted to get everyone to safety. There was no power, it was dark, and you couldn’t see where the water was coming from.”
The Donovans, Laura, and her two children took refuge in the higher forestry block across the road.
As dawn began to break, Becky knew it would be bad despite it being a fine, still morning. “I could hear the cicadas clicking and the birds singing. But as the sun rose, we could see our home surrounded with water up to the windows.
“When I saw the house, it was not a reality. I was just so grateful we all got out and were ok.
“I am more devastated now than I was then. It took a while before it began to bite in, and I started to realise we had lost our home and
our income. Karl’s workshop and all his tools were underwater, so he couldn’t even fix anything. Where do you start? We had two kids, nowhere to live, and I was having a baby.”
“Initially, I thought this is okay, we just have to clean up, this is repairable. Then we got red stickered. That meant we couldn’t even go into the house to get the water and silt out, I just felt like I was betraying my home.”
The floodwaters did not affect Laura’s house, so initially, the Donovans stayed there, although they were without power for weeks.
The family then moved to a nearby farm cottage just in time for the arrival of a new baby boy, Benjamin, on April 23. “Originally, I had planned to have a water birth at home, but the flood was not quite what I expected.
“It was around the time of having Benjamin that we started looking at options. We wanted to stay on our property and didn’t want to live anywhere else, so we decided on converting the woolshed as it would give us a roof over our head in the short-term and an asset to our property in the long-term.”
Karl developed a floor plan, and with help from his friends and family, the transformation began.
Karl searched on Trade Me and other sites and travelled nationwide, sourcing a kitchen and other supplies to complete their new home. They have also kept the character of the four-stand woolshed, complete with overhead shearing plants and a sheep chute down to a playroom.
The family moved into their new woolshed home in the first week of September and said while it’s great to be home and back on their land, it is hard to look across at their now gutted and abandoned former home.
“I loved our homestead so much. We are waiting on insurance, and after that decision, we will need to decide what we will do, as I don’t know yet if I will be able to live there again.
“It’s great to have our own space and a roof over our head. Emotionally, it has been huge, we lost so much, but we have also had amazing support from family and friends.”
“Karl is always positive and has a don’t worry attitude. Renovating the woolshed has been a cool project and given us something positive to move forward with, and now that we have a family home again, we can look towards the next stage of our journey.”
The Marumaru family are still awaiting an insurance decision on the fate of their 100-plus-year-old character homestead, which was swamped by flooding.
While their house is unliveable, the versatile and optimistic couple have repurposed their woolshed, transforming it into a four-bedroom home.
The Donovans have lived at the 7-ha block, 20km from town, for eight years. The property is their home and also their income source. They rear calves on the block, along with Karl working as a mechanic and firewood contractor and Becky, a massage therapist.
Becky said they never thought they would lose the house that has stood there for over a century. “Then, over one night, everything we had built up was gone.”
Becky was seven months pregnant when Cyclone Gabrielle struck. “I was restless as we were getting heavy rain, and in the 2022 weather events, the river, which comes down from Te Reinga, had come up to the bottom of the clothesline. Tairawhiti had declared a Civil Defence emergency, and I knew our headwaters came from Gisborne and high tide was coming.
“By 3am, we started packing up, and within half an hour, the river had risen by a metre and had increased so much in width.
“We packed up the kids, Maddie, nine and Tommy, seven, and as I drove out, the river was halfway up my tyres. I couldn’t see if I was driving on the driveway or in the drain.”
Becky drove next door to her sister, Laura Jerram, and by this stage, the river was swirling around in all directions caused by a build-up of woody debris at nearby bridges.
Karl drove out 10 minutes behind his wife, and by then, the river was over the bonnet of his truck. "The water was rising so quickly, and being pregnant, I felt so vulnerable and just wanted to get everyone to safety. There was no power, it was dark, and you couldn’t see where the water was coming from.”
The Donovans, Laura, and her two children took refuge in the higher forestry block across the road.
As dawn began to break, Becky knew it would be bad despite it being a fine, still morning. “I could hear the cicadas clicking and the birds singing. But as the sun rose, we could see our home surrounded with water up to the windows.
“When I saw the house, it was not a reality. I was just so grateful we all got out and were ok.
“I am more devastated now than I was then. It took a while before it began to bite in, and I started to realise we had lost our home and
our income. Karl’s workshop and all his tools were underwater, so he couldn’t even fix anything. Where do you start? We had two kids, nowhere to live, and I was having a baby.”
“Initially, I thought this is okay, we just have to clean up, this is repairable. Then we got red stickered. That meant we couldn’t even go into the house to get the water and silt out, I just felt like I was betraying my home.”
The floodwaters did not affect Laura’s house, so initially, the Donovans stayed there, although they were without power for weeks.
The family then moved to a nearby farm cottage just in time for the arrival of a new baby boy, Benjamin, on April 23. “Originally, I had planned to have a water birth at home, but the flood was not quite what I expected.
“It was around the time of having Benjamin that we started looking at options. We wanted to stay on our property and didn’t want to live anywhere else, so we decided on converting the woolshed as it would give us a roof over our head in the short-term and an asset to our property in the long-term.”
Karl developed a floor plan, and with help from his friends and family, the transformation began.
Karl searched on Trade Me and other sites and travelled nationwide, sourcing a kitchen and other supplies to complete their new home. They have also kept the character of the four-stand woolshed, complete with overhead shearing plants and a sheep chute down to a playroom.
The family moved into their new woolshed home in the first week of September and said while it’s great to be home and back on their land, it is hard to look across at their now gutted and abandoned former home.
“I loved our homestead so much. We are waiting on insurance, and after that decision, we will need to decide what we will do, as I don’t know yet if I will be able to live there again.
“It’s great to have our own space and a roof over our head. Emotionally, it has been huge, we lost so much, but we have also had amazing support from family and friends.”
“Karl is always positive and has a don’t worry attitude. Renovating the woolshed has been a cool project and given us something positive to move forward with, and now that we have a family home again, we can look towards the next stage of our journey.”
Karl and Becky Donovan’s Marumaru homestead flooded up to the windows.
The Donovans converted woolshed home still retains some of its past heritage.