The nightime wanderings of three-year Axle from Tolaga Bay may have shocked and amazed but his family's back story is highlighting the more commonplace crisis of homelessness.
Before moving to the area his family had no home, forced to pitch a tent in different sites around Gisborne.
The city has one of the most acute housing shortages in the country.
Tairāwhiti reporter Tom Kitchin reports.
