Call it a B&B&B: Overnight on this boat, overlooking the Bay of Islands
An old fishing boat has become perhaps the most unusual overnight experience in the Bay of Islands, thanks to a little ingenuity and a lot of investment from two enterprising entrepreneurs in Gillams.
"People are looking for unusual places to stay. They're staying in tents and tree houses, you name it," said Joy Burt, standing amid her extensive gardens at her home in Gillams.
"We were thinking about what would be appropriate for our setting, and after we looked at a few spots, we thought — what about a boat?"
On the garden's edge, past her wildflowers and fruit trees, sits a 10-metre fishing vessel, managing to somehow looking totally natural to the scene and yet wildly out of place.
The bright, blue-and-white boat is named On Shore Leave, Burt and her partner Eldon Brake's brainchild. It's fully kitted out, with a shower, sink, barbecue and wi-fi, its bow overlooking a magnificent view of the bay, and mountains beyond.
But it took months of hard work to make it a reality.
Cranes, excavators, and cherry trees
Burt, who admits she's "never short of ideas," had been looking to tackle a new project as her retirement from teaching loomed this past June.
Last year, while she and Brake were road tripping through Isle aux Morts, that project presented itself, peeling paint and all.
"Lo and behold, parked on the dock, was this bit of a derelict," Burt said.
"When we saw her, we said, "She's the right size, she's the right shape. She's got it all going on.'"
After a quick transaction with the boat's owner, who was all too happy to be rid of the much-used vessel, the boat was theirs. But getting it to the property in Gillams took a little more doing.
"We knew that was going to be one of the biggest parts of the job," said Burt, adding Brake finagled a tractor trailer and a couple of cranes to get the boat to its new home.
"I had to tow it in on site through the cherry trees, the fruit trees, without cutting them down. And I took an excavator and dug a trench and lowered it down into it," said Brake, adding at that time the boat weighed 6 1/2 tonnes.
Customizing
Brake estimated he put close to 4,000 hours of work into the renovations.
"It was a big project. I couldn't go away from it, I just had to stick with it," he said.
He and Burt built a canopy over the boat so renovations could continue over the winter. Burt said while Brake is extremely handy, he's also extremely meticulous.
"He doesn't just go to the store and buy wall panelling. He cuts the tree, saws the tree, planes it down, makes the panelling, puts it up. Everything took a long time, but worked out pretty good," she said.
The results bear out those efforts. Inside, guests are greeted by gleaming stained wood and customized marine-inspired pillows. The bed, tucked into the bow, is also a custom, triangle-shaped sleeping berth.
"We had to make the mattress, and we had to make the sheets. Making that bed is fun too. Crawl in there and try to fit everything in around that triangular shape," laughed Burt.
Surprising the first guests
The first overnight guest was Brake's granddaughter, who gave it the thumbs up for On Shore Leave to become a real overnight experience.
The boat has been taking in guests for about a month, and Burt said so far they've only been advertising by Facebook or word-or-mouth, with plans to make a bigger splash next summer.
Even though Burt and Brake say up front it's a real refurbished vessel, the first few guests have still been caught a bit off guard upon arrival.
"The fact that it was an actual boat, that surprised a lot of people. They thought it was going to be something that looked like a boat," said Burt.
"I'm thinking it's the first, and one of the only, on the island," added Brake.
The pair say they're enjoying their foray into the world of bed and breakfasts, and have no plans to part with their little bit of paradise after all their hard work.
"I paid a few dollars for the boat, but if you had to buy it off me today, it'd be really expensive," said Brake.
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