Levi has spent a year building a scrap material treehouse in his backyard, but his tower is no more. Reporter Kaz asks neighbourhood kids, when does epic become epically dangerous?
The Tower of Ōtara made headlines for weeks before it was demolished. Now, for the first time, see inside it and join local tamariki as they share what it meant to them.
Kazde’al Kahia-Kaka (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) from Mayfield Primary reports for Kea Kids News.
A treehouse in the Auckland suburb of Ōtara which was taken down after safety complaints from neighbours was much-loved by local children, who were on hand when it was demolished - alongside the local man who built it all by hand.
The multi-storey tower, constructed with plywood and zinc sheets and adorned with a red bicycle on top, was a second home for local man Levi Fale and a celebrated landmark for the tamariki who live around him.
The tower was a popular local landmark for many. Photo / Jason Dorday
This one might have been built by a grown-up, but treehouses are usually for kids. So Kea Kids News hit the streets of Ōtara to find out what they thought of the famous tower.
Melanie Tuavai-Lopa (Tainui) said the treehouse was “beautiful and amazing”.
“All the new families that moved in around this area, they’d always walk past and they’d be like, wow, that’s so cool, maybe we should make one,” Peyton Kay Whare (Tainui) said.
“I’ve always wanted a tree house but my parents never gave me one because we never had a tree.”
Skyler Rose Whare (Tainui) said the tower would be lit with LED lights at night that looked like “twinkling fairies”.
Levi Fale returns home to find demolition underway. Photo / Kea Kids News
Peyton Kay Whare, who was on hand with Kea Kids News and the other local tamariki when council moved in, said its removal was “so sad”.
“My heart broke for him,” she said of Fale, who had spent a year building the tower and arrived back at his Ōtara home last Wednesday to find demolition well underway.
“You don’t just want a boring neighbourhood, you want something new and I think that’s what kind of brought the street to life,” Whare added.
