Sticks and Wombat

Sticks, 31, Carpenter and photographer

Wombat, 38, Salesman

Experience level: These two mates have both worked on their own houses. Now they’re ready to bring their skills to The Block as a team – and they plan on having stacks of fun along the way.

Married with a 15-month-old son, Sticks’ life is about to get a whole lot busier. As well as competing on The Block, this chippie from the NSW South Coast is preparing for the birth of his next child, due during filming.

“My wife, she’s real supportive,” says Sticks, real name Mark.

“She’s fine with me being here. Actually, I think she’s stoked to have me out of her hair.”

Sticks, who got his nickname as a kid due to his gangly stature, is always up for fun and ready for a laugh. He has a creative eye and the trade to pull it off but don’t
ask him about budget, that’s Wombat’s department.

Honest and trusting, what you see is what you get with this ideas man, who sent in their application for the show complete with some hilarious pictures too rude for
publication, making fun of the producer’s request for a “mood board”.

“Oh, I thought they meant NUDE board,” says Wombat.

With his infectious smile, Wombat is the kind of guy that could persuade you to get into all kinds of mischief – something Sticks knows only too well. A tight-arse with a dollar, he has the lifestyle to match, living “off the grid” in a shipping container with no electricity, running water – and no toilet. But the simple life suits him fine, and he and son Jake, 7, enjoy their time together in the bush.

“He loves it out here,” says Wombat, who shares custody of his son with his ex-wife who lives nearby.

When he’s not in the surf or working for a local board manufacturer, Wombat can be found with a textbook in hand, homeschooling Jake. Or over at Sticks’ house
watching TV.

“I don’t have one at home, so I’d go over there and we’d watch The Block,” he says.

Likeable larrikins, Sticks and Wombat are hardworking best mates from the South Coast of NSW.

Always with a smile on their dials, Wombat and Sticks are unique characters who love a surf and a yarn with mates.

In their 15 years of friendship they’ve done it all and they have the stories (and scars) to prove it. They see The Block as an extension of their adventures and they can’t wait to get stuck in.

“We’d normally get up to some pretty stupid things. But not as much anymore, because as you get a bit older, and you have kids, you have to think about things a bit more,” says Wombat.

But deciding to do The Block was a no-brainer for them both.

“I just said, ‘Should we go on The Block, Wombat?’ And he said, ‘Sure!’ and that’s all it took,” Sticks laughs.

“Sticks just said, ‘Come round tomorrow and we’ll make a movie.’ That was it. We brainstormed for half an hour and got it done,” Wombat adds.

For Wombat, who hasn’t got the practical skills and expertise of his friend, the lure of giving it a go and learning a thing or two along the way was too great.

“I’m living in a shipping container, which I’ve never completed. I gave a hand to build two houses for friends but I want to gain the skills to build my own home from start to finish, he explains.

As for their style, they’re not entirely sure what that will be yet.

“We make it up as we go along. I think it will be interesting to see what we have to start with,” says Wombat. But there is one thing they know for sure: it will be Wombat doing the styling.

“I’m colour blind,” says Sticks.

“When I show him a heap of paint swatches, like different greens, he’ll say, ‘Why have we got all the same ones?’” Wombat replies.

Oh dear – this might get interesting.