- 13 hours ago
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00:02Currently, we have to go to another island to have a shower.
00:07Yeah.
00:11How much do you have?
00:12A pound?
00:12A pound?
00:13Did you bring any?
00:14No.
00:15That would buy us three minutes.
00:16Yeah.
00:17I think it's a rip-off, personally.
00:19Hurry up then.
00:20That's 90 seconds.
00:22And I need two minutes.
00:24Oh!
00:25There we go.
00:26There we go.
00:26Oh, my God.
00:28You promised me when we moved in that I'd have running water.
00:32One bit of running water.
00:34I'm not asking for the world.
00:37I haven't got a bath.
00:38I haven't got light.
00:40I haven't got windows.
00:42Good things come to those who wait.
00:53I don't know how we're going to live here through all of this.
00:55No power, no water.
00:56This is the time we're going to look back on and think,
00:59ah, yes, those were the days.
01:02Remember when we didn't shower for three weeks?
01:06Our toilet didn't flush.
01:07These are the good old days.
01:10These are the good old days.
01:37no shops,
01:38no anything one might reasonably call convenience.
01:42It sure's our home to precisely 18 residents.
01:50I've now been on over 29 years this month
01:56A lot of people ask
01:57How do you manage over there
02:00Because there's nothing to do
02:01And that's why I live here
02:03Because there's nothing to do
02:05I do interact with other people
02:07But I try to keep it to a minimum
02:11The last time I was in
02:13Ulverhaus, it was covered in mould
02:16The roof leaks
02:17All the windows are rotten
02:19The electrical wiring needs replaced
02:21And all the plumbing probably needs replaced
02:25The whole house needs to be gutted
02:27Down to the stonework and rebuilt
02:29Despite having no water, no electricity
02:33And a somewhat leaky roof
02:35Banjo and Ro have moved into Ulverhaus
02:38And begun this major undertaking
02:41So this is our current bedroom
02:44It's been pretty grim in here
02:46I've also got a leak in the cupboard
02:47I woke up to the sound of dripping
02:49And bits of plaster falling into a sink
02:51I think some of the hardest parts
02:52About, like, squatting in this place
02:54Is keeping things clean
02:56And keeping things dry
02:57Everything takes about three days to dry
03:00So everything's damp, dusty, mouldy
03:03But it's the nature of the beast
03:05Come, boy
03:07With the whiskey library now complete
03:10Attention turns to the hotel lobby
03:13I want to fuse, like, our Antipodean influences
03:19With that quintessential Scottish experience
03:23So a mural that starts off at the bottom of the staircase
03:27With some tropical motifs
03:30A little bit of an ocean
03:31As you kind of crawl up the stairs
03:33The landscape morphs into a kind of more moody Scottish landscape
03:39It's going to be tropical at the bottom
03:41Moody and stormy at the top
03:44Do I get a palm tree?
03:46No palm trees
03:48Anything I request
03:49Nada, I've got zero
03:51Every request
03:52I listen
03:52A palm tree
03:54One little palm tree
03:55You've got metres and metres and metres of mural space
03:58We can do better
04:01The entrance to Ulva House
04:03Is to be reimagined as an evocative reception hall
04:06At its heart
04:08A hand-painted mural
04:09Will chart the improbable voyage from Australia to Ulva
04:13Lush greenery will spill from corners and shelves
04:17And an arrival desk will welcome any weary travellers
04:20Looking for somewhere to lay their head
04:25I want this mural to be a mash-up of Scotland and Australia
04:29Because people are coming to enjoy Scotland and the landscape here
04:33But they're also in our home and we're Aussie
04:36And I'm a little bit homesick as well
04:38So I want to have a little bit of us in it and a little bit of Scotland
04:42But after years of neglect
04:44The walls of Ulva House tell a story of damp winters, peeling paint and ruin
04:49This needs to be kind of brought into shape before we can do anything
04:54Yeah
04:54I haven't seen this much moles ever in my life
04:58Like if we had to get someone in here to clean
05:01Who would, well one who would, two
05:03We can't afford, we can't afford that
05:10The reality is like the first thing that really needs to be done is the cleaning
05:13Moulds on every surface
05:15Ben is over there making some phone calls for our cleaning party on Monday
05:24It's a hard sell Monday morning
05:26Come clean my house for me
05:28Hopefully some people will come
05:31Hey George
05:32Hello, how are you?
05:34If we can get 15 people in there to give us a hand
05:36To get it cleaned, to get it done, that'll be great
05:38Putting on a bit of grub, bit of a barbecue
05:40And then just do some light cleaning at our house
05:46I'll take three, I'll be honest
05:47When you say eight hours, I think you're meaning over
05:50Yeah, come over to Ulva and just like, you know, wash a few walls
05:55No, I can't make Monday nutrients
05:58Alright, well thanks, thanks for nothing
06:00Appreciate it
06:01I think we're going to have to call in favours from everyone we know on Mull
06:08Everyone on the island to come and help us with this place
06:12I'm too worried to do it
06:14Nicholas has got a dodgy hip
06:18Phil's the farmer's busy with the farm
06:22Rory's on the, so there's nobody here to help them
06:31This is the true test of friendship
06:34It's make or break from my friendship circle
06:37No, anyone that turns up has gone above and beyond
06:40If you're not there, you're dead to me
06:44Hello
06:45Oh, the cavalry
06:47Oh no, you're a lifesaver
06:55Well it's a beautiful day for it
06:57You guys need to thaw out
07:01We've got buckets, we've got heaps of cleaning stuff
07:03We'll start filling things up and just give it a go
07:11I kind of miss the old crumbly walls
07:15You're doing amazing, sweetie
07:16Just the last bit, it's honestly the last bit, Asha
07:22Wow, it's so light, isn't it?
07:25It's a brand new house
07:27Thank you, everyone
07:30Thank you
07:31Who wants to drink?
07:32Yeah, let's get a wine
07:37I guess phase two is plastering
07:40I think with this mural idea, what I really like is the story of sort of us travelling from Australia
07:47to here
07:47That was our journey
07:50Ro and I met at the pub and it was love at first sight, I had tunnel vision for it
07:54It was just this vision with a ponytail
07:56And a couple of weeks after we met, we bought a one-way ticket to Sri Lanka
08:00We were only dating for a tiny bit and then we're on this adventure and that adventure led us to
08:07Mo
08:07Yeah, it was just such a joyous time
08:15When I say palm trees, it's got a really special place in my heart
08:20Like, it was when we went on holidays and we're travelling together
08:24Our first home had palm trees in the back garden
08:26It's so evocative of all of those memories
08:28Like, it just takes me straight back to those times
08:33Yeah, that's why it was important to me to have it on the mural
08:38I think I've been converted to the palm tree
08:45I'm up to the painting now, which is the fun-er part of it all
08:49There's been a few late nights sanding, a few late nights scraping
08:53Just trying to stay on schedule
08:54There's a mural artist who's coming
08:56There is a bit of pressure to get everything done that needs to be done before they get here
09:02You can get quite overwhelming when you walk around the house and see all the work that needs to be
09:06done
09:06And all the wall space that needs to be prepared and prepped and painted
09:12Banjo has enlisted a mural artist from Bristol
09:15To bring the tropics of Australia to the Hebridean walls of Alva House
09:21We're doing a mural on the staircase
09:24So is there going to be figures?
09:27A rugged ferryman maybe in the back?
09:29Yeah, and a rugged ferry
09:37Here we are
09:39It's not too scary
09:41It looks bigger though now in the white, doesn't it?
09:45Yeah, yeah, yeah, it looks massive
09:46Honestly, kid, well done
09:48You've painted that
09:49This looked very different 48 hours ago
09:52So it's representing our journey
09:55We reached Scotland upstairs
09:57But this is all about Australia down here
10:00I would love a palm tree
10:01The palm tree and the thistle
10:03The classic combo
10:05We'll marry it together with colours
10:07Even if it seems like a pretty random combination
10:09Okay, can we leave you to it?
10:11I guess so
10:12Alright, you get yourself sorted
10:18So I've got to leave the island
10:19That means leaving Ro to do the work here on the ground
10:24And leaving him a really long to-do list
10:27What do I need to do while you're away?
10:29We need to patch the outside
10:31Any water coming in
10:32So we need to make sure the roof's not leaking
10:35You need to investigate the plumbing
10:37If it's leaking and it damages anything that's not damaged now
10:41That's what we need to discover
10:42If it goes wrong, it'll go really wrong
10:43We'll have more water damage in walls and ceilings than we already have
10:49Are you okay?
10:50No, I'm not okay
10:51It's daunting
10:52Look around this room
10:53This is where we're living at the moment
10:54I don't know where anything is
10:56Where's the rent?
10:58Like, where's my undies?
11:00But I don't know where anything is at this point
11:02It's really daunting on how to
11:06One, renovate the place
11:07And then one, how to live in it
11:09Yeah, I'm terrified
11:12It's all going to be okay
11:13Yeah, I know
11:14It's just when you start, I guess, putting things down on paper
11:18And realising
11:19And it's so much is
11:20There's lots
11:21It's lots
11:22And so much is out of our control
11:23I know how overwhelming it is
11:26It's a lot
11:27But if we're moving in the right direction
11:29And we do one thing
11:32That's one less thing we have to do tomorrow
11:34We got this, kid
11:36I love you
11:37I love you too
11:42While the mural slowly begins to emerge
11:45Banjo departs for Mull
11:47On a mission to procure interior treasures
11:50Leaving Roe to hold the fort at the homestead
11:55Love you
11:58Bye, Grandpa
12:00Oh, man
12:01Perfect timing
12:02This is when all the work has to begin
12:03Yeah, you're smarter than you would
12:05I know
12:06Thanks
12:07All right
12:08Just me and you, buddy
12:09First mystery to solve
12:10The leaky roof
12:12Andy has gone up and had a look for us
12:16Howdy, Andy
12:17Howdy
12:18You all right?
12:19Yeah, going all right
12:20So this is towards the apex of the roof
12:24You can just see where you should have mortar
12:25It's all gone
12:26So they're big slabs
12:28And the water's running down the slab
12:29And falling into the joints
12:31And then dying
12:31Yeah
12:31I suspect
12:32We'll just need to remortar them
12:34Yeah, so you should be fine
12:35Yeah
12:35Yeah, yeah
12:36Next enigma to crack
12:37The ancient water system around the house
12:41This is John
12:41This is Roe
12:43Nice to meet you
12:43So you're the plumber
12:44He's the plumber
12:45So yeah, I'll try and give you as much information as I can
12:46You're probably better at the discovery
12:48Than what I'll be able to tell you anyway
12:52So John's going around
12:53And he's checking all the water pipes
12:55Some of them are probably not in use
12:56Because it's been upgraded at some point
12:57Ah, okay
12:59This would be the cold water storage tank for the house
13:02That would supply the water that would have came up with the taps
13:05Okay, so this is where the drinking water would come from
13:07Is it?
13:08I'm not sure you could class it as proper drinking water
13:11So, I mean, you can see the amount of rust that's inside of it
13:14Until it obviously failed and somebody has isolated it
13:17That's the truth
13:18That's wild
13:20But there is a more recent pipe system to explore
13:24So I haven't been down here before
13:26Wait
13:27I'm just assuming
13:28We'll lift it and see
13:30Yeah, it's the only one of
13:32I think it's good, it's accessible
13:35I need to go under and check
13:44Are you all right, John?
13:45Yeah, well, good
13:46Oh, okay
13:47From the tiny little bit I can see down there
13:49It looks dry
13:50So I think that's good
13:52Oh, John's come back
13:53It's actually looking okay
13:54Yeah
13:55So the older, bigger stuff that we can see
13:56Is probably not in use anymore
13:58Brilliant
13:58We need to test it
14:00But if there is any problem
14:01Just think we can fix it
14:02Okay
14:02Yeah
14:02Cool
14:03Thanks, John
14:06While the plumbers prepare to test the cold running water through the pipes
14:10Banjo has arrived in Mull
14:13In pursuit of a critical item for the lobby
14:15And naturally
14:16Any other treasures
14:17That might present themselves
14:19I've got collections and piles of junk in all corners of Mull
14:24I've got everything I could ever need to pull a scheme together
14:29I don't even know what's in there
14:31And I forget even buying half of it
14:32But I know that I'm always going to find something in there and spin it into gold
14:37That's a lovely thing
14:40It's a potential bedroom piece, actually
14:43A headboard with a skull on it
14:53When I was a little boy
14:55All I ever wanted to be was an old man
14:58I think I just love old things
15:01I love patina
15:02I love the story that these pieces bring
15:05And I want people to feel that when they walk in the door
15:08I want them to switch off their phone
15:09End their worries
15:10And just step back into a time that was maybe a little bit simpler
15:14Ooh
15:15Ooh, that could be good
15:18Frames
15:18They could come in handy
15:23Back at the house, Andy has remortared the roof
15:26And Melissa is making steady progress on the mural
15:29I'm kind of building up the layers of the background
15:32Get kind of lots of colour washes in
15:35And kind of go from there, build things gradually
15:38I am trying to get some dark, kind of contrasting tones in
15:44And then I'm going to soften it all and kind of bring it together again afterwards
15:48I think it will become clear later on where this is
15:51I'm just kind of trying to build up a lot of different areas at once
15:55And then I'm going to kind of fine tune them and bring them together
16:06Gary!
16:08How are you getting on?
16:09How are you getting on?
16:10Not too bad, not too bad
16:11Upstairs for Roe, it's the moment of truth
16:15It's time to test the pipes
16:17If everything goes as planned, you'll have water throughout the house
16:21It means you can get the stench of pee from the toilets away as well
16:25Yeah
16:25If there's a leak, if anything does go, I can turn it off
16:28It shouldn't leak, right?
16:30We'll put it on and we'll see what happens
16:31That's the...
16:33Okay, okay
16:35Chris, you got people stationed around the house?
16:37Aye, they're both upstairs
16:38Aye, that's fine, you're downstairs
16:40Aye
16:40Let's do it
16:41Are you ready for it?
16:42Yeah
16:43I'm going to put the water on now, right?
16:46Right, let's go on, Chris
16:47Let me know if you hear anything
17:11Okay, grim but working
17:17Okay
17:19That's good
17:25So far, so good
17:26So far, so good
17:27All right
17:28Perfect
17:31Hello
17:32Yeah, hello
17:33They've just turned on the cold water
17:35And we have cold water
17:36And toilets
17:38And showers
17:39Yeah, boy
17:40Yes, that's good
17:42I want hot water
17:44Look
17:46I'm going to have a cold shower tonight
17:47Do you know, we can just have...
17:49I know it's not hot
17:50Oh my God
17:50I never wanted a cold shower more
17:53I know
17:53All right, bye
17:54Love you
17:54Love you
17:56Without a connection to the mainland system
17:58The water on Ulva is naturally filtered through a peat bog
18:02Picking up the colour of amber
18:04And the smell of rain
18:06Before finding its way to the taps
18:16So, look
18:17It's got a bit of discolouration through it
18:18When you do compare it to, like, what you would expect water
18:22The colour becomes a bit more noticeable
18:24It's fine
18:25There's no nasties in it
18:27It's mineral rich
18:28Is the way I would look at it
18:30We're just going to call it peated mineral rich water
18:32So
18:35But not everybody on the island trusts the water
18:49I got this car off Jeanette
18:52So it's more or less a community vehicle
18:56And we get water
18:58Any heavy mail that comes
19:00Big parcels
19:02There was opposition to me bringing this on to the island
19:06By certain people
19:10But it's here now anyway
19:12So it doesn't really matter
19:15Because of the quality of the water
19:18I have to go down once a week
19:21To fill up water bottles
19:23For drinking and cooking
19:26And if you see there's no Keith
19:27Had a tiny bit of water
19:28And I was saying
19:59doing this restoration it's hard it's way harder than i ever could have anticipated
20:07it's hard getting things sorted without banshee i miss it i miss having my rock and
20:11yeah having that person to to be there but also help
20:22you know sometimes i do miss australia you know there's so many happy memories
20:27and then we've come here and it feels completely different and i i don't understand just yet why
20:33i love it so much it's like a magnet that i don't know why i feel so connected to but
20:41i do
20:46it i love it i really really love it they're perfect i really really really love it okay
20:53i'm almost emotional no yeah because it doesn't it does remind me of home that's really sweet and
21:00i don't get homesick often but yeah it's going to make you feel more that doesn't make me feel more
21:05it does it does i didn't i don't even know why i'm quick let's call him grandpa yeah i'm not
21:11homesick
21:12it's just it's perfect you've just captured scenes and visions in in this yeah i'm really i love it
21:22thanks melissa i'll stop crying now i promise crying no thanks
21:33all that remains now is to fill the hotel lobby with banjo's carefully acquired treasures
21:40ding welcome to the grand island hotel do you have a reservation yeah booking for two oh easy
21:49where on earth did you find that barbara barbara in the borders barbara's had it for years
21:55husband wanted to get rid of it said you'd be doing us a favor to get rid of it you
22:00did good
22:00yeah all right should we get it over howdy realy what have you got this thing oh uh reception desk
22:09oh
22:09thanks mate
22:13i think it sits nice with the palm trees no i think it's great i've invited the cleaning party back
22:20i think they'll love it oh i hope i hope they do gosh imagine if they don't no this is
22:26our first first
22:27guests i think the magic's in the mix when you pull a space together like this texture natural
22:35materials crack paint all of that adds up to that lovely warm feeling guests are gonna get when they
22:42walk in i don't know how it's all gonna go together but that's weird so i'm thinking the original
22:47inspiration board what if we put them kind of suspend them in the frame on the wall
22:56do we have more frames well we need to scrub the bird poo off that for starters
23:04oh that's a moment i do love it i think that looks good because the mural is the backdrop
23:11to everything else your eye has somewhere to land otherwise you're staring off into yonder confused why
23:20there's a palm tree in a hotel in scotland
23:34not cleaning the door
23:42hello welcome to the grand island hotel wow
24:09do you like it yeah yeah wow do you like the mural i love the palm trees
24:17well it's meant to be like a bit of a story of our travel here picture this bro and i
24:23a couple of
24:24young whippersnappers we're in australia we've got a big dream just a couple of dollars in our pocket
24:29we leave australia we buy a one-way ticket to sri lanka then we arrive in like the misty moors
24:34of
24:34scotland we land on mull and we've arrived you did help us get to this point and clean it up
24:41yeah very
24:42very grateful incredibly grateful yeah it's incredible you're amazing no one else could have done this
24:49they created something quite magically you can really tell it's benjo and roe
24:54but sometimes it really fits into the house
24:58it's lovely it's a real homage to their journey
25:04our romantic explorers have successfully transformed the entrance to ulva house
25:10the stored cold running water to its ancient pipes and begun to repair the various leaks to the roof
25:17all achievements worthy of celebration
25:35like what a treat you know oh yeah it's just nice to be out here and like
25:40remind yourself why we fell in love with the place yeah we can get caught up in it all can't
25:45we yeah
25:48we're a man who can still be free or a woman if you are one i like swinging in the
25:56sea
25:59oh my my my it's a beautiful world time for a puffin picnic
26:10with a little bit of love saying stunning
26:15i like making my own i don't know if we have properly stopped it's been a lot
26:22yeah i know well you've struggled yeah i struggled the other day life just found it really tough
26:28it's all worth it that's the thing if we keep our eyes on the prize yeah we're here to kind
26:33of build a
26:34life for ourselves and how did we end up here yeah i don't know it's wild isn't it so far
26:39away
26:39from where we grew up like the middle of nowhere the bush oh yeah we weren't we weren't surrounded
26:45by sea not at all i've always loved the sea that's why i'm so glad we've moved to this place
26:50and we're surrounded by it remember that time you died at sea i was a fisherman and i was out
26:57working
26:58you thought i tied that's what the mail i got was like two blokes on this boat have died
27:04so i went down to the pier i was there with the other fisherman's wife he had a cry and
27:11then i was
27:11like all right well he's gone i had the most beautiful service arranged for you honestly i'm glad i didn't
27:18die me too i'm glad you didn't die you've done a lot of jobs yeah we've done what we've needed
27:23to
27:23do to get by yeah just to us just to ask no place i'd rather be
27:28i watch the sun as it comes up i watch it as it sets yeah this is as good as
27:36it gets
27:39so my my my it's a beautiful world
27:44i like swimming in the sea
27:53hmm
27:56so
27:57so
27:57so
27:59so
27:59so
27:59You
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