Fri 7 Mar: Living in tent; Tyre House; Backyard Cricket 

Homeless
Imagine living in a tent for three months with five children. Up until a couple of days ago that's exactly what Nelson resident Anita Peterson was doing, but then the tent blew down leaving her and the kids homeless. Thanks to the motorcamp's owner they've been given a container sized cabin. But its only an emergency stop-gap until they get kicked out. Anita is just one of number of families desperate to find rental accommodation in sunny Nelson. The trouble is there's just nothing available that they can afford.

Tyre house
If home loan interest rates seem a little scary right now, rest assured there are alternatives. At 48-years-old Brian Gubb felt another mortgage was the last thing he wanted. Bryan's solution is a 300-square-metre tyre house consisting of 2500 tyres - all recycled and filled with clay. These days a house that size should cost $300,000 or more but Brian Gubb has built his environmentally friendly, economically friendly, home for just $17,000.

Backyard cricket
There's no doubting it has been a summer to talk about. The sort of summer when games of backyard cricket stretch into marathons because of the warmth of the summer evenings. In Pareoa they're saluting the tradition that is backyard cricket. Tomorrow teams will commandeer the lawns of complete strangers for what's likely to become an annual tournament.