Pete, 17 (front) and Andy 15 Walker trying out a go kart.
Pete, 17 (front) and Andy 15 Walker trying out a go kart.
When Pete and Andy Walker of TV3's The Block were growing up on the family farm at Bulls, it was all about DIY, madcap ideas laced with fierce humour and having a good scrap occasionally.
Their mum, Carol, said her three boys - Pete, 26, Steven, 25, and Andy, 23 - had endless energy. "They were typical boys: into everything, loud and funny ... they used to drive me nuts."
Pete and Andy's mum, Carol Walker, with her chihuahua puppies.
"Well we couldn't watch them just once ... I had to watch the show over and over again. And once Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday [the show nights] were over and there was no show for another week, I hated it. It felt like my life was suddenly empty."
Mrs Walker said her boys could turn their hands to most jobs, probably because they were bought up in a DIY home.
"We moved this old place on to the farm and have been doing it up for 20 or so years."
The natural comedic talents of Pete and Andy on the show are no different to when they were little boys, she said.
"It's the whole family humour thing, really. But those two are very close ... always have been, and their banter has never stopped."
As small boys they both had favourite things. Pete's was dressing the animals up, with cats in frocks and bonnets, to a dog in cowboy or gangster gear, while Andy saddled up the calves and rode them.
From left, Andy and Pete Walker, aged 2 and 4, and middle brother Steven
By the time they were both at Rangitikei College, they were bringing home teenage mates who were over the moon at the farm's wide open spaces, the motocross bikes and tracks ... a vast space to have a really great time, she said.
During those years, there was a selection of pets, including dozens of cats which, when they grew out of kittenhood, would often dive across the road outside the farm and get bowled by a car - yet somehow the boys always arrived home with another, Carol said. Then there were the dogs - the farm dogs also became pets until she finally put her foot down.
"So I said that was it, no more big dogs. I was going to have a little dog, just for me."
Except that one little dog has become four much-loved chihuahuas and a large notice on the gate warns to Beware of the dogs.
Seeing her boys on The Blockhas been wonderful, she said. "They are great, they're funny ... they're just being who they are ... fabulous farm boys. I'm very proud."
