Hadani

April 2026 “I’m running ten marathons in ten days dressed as a chicken. It’s raising money for the Speed Freaks, a charity that uses running, walking and connection to support those in recovery and with experience of mental distress. I’m a volunteer coach with the Speed Freaks. I’ve seen the effects of movement, getting social […]

Jonty

April 2026 “When I was five, my family left England on a boat, and over the next three years, we sailed around the world before arriving in New Zealand. We checked out all these awesome locations, the Galapagos Islands, Palmerston Atoll, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama Canal. Alongside that, we had all these books about animals. […]

Adam and Anna

March 2025 “I went to Australia in 2010 with the intention of being there six months. I got offered a full time job as an assistant winemaker, so I decided to stay. Our winery wasn’t set up for processing our whites, we did it at a contract facility which was Adam’s work and I met […]

Helen – Part 2

March 2025 “Looking back and realizing just what a totally different life I had as a child, I think part of why boarding school was so hard was that nobody actually understood. Boarding school taught me how to live alongside, work alongside people that I now have no contact with, so in life, there was […]

Helen – Part 1

March 2025 “I grew up in the North Canterbury back country. My father managed a high country station called Esk Head up the South Branch of the Hurunui River. We lived in a sod house with a thatched roof. Outside had corrugated iron because there weren’t people to re-thatch any longer. We had a diesel […]

Noel

“I took to bikes from a very young age, I got into Penny Farthing riding when I was 12. There were Penny Farthing races happening in Oamaru and I asked a guy if I could have a go on one. Half an hour later, I won my first race, and six months later, I built […]

Casey

“I wasn’t aware of it when I was going through it, or growing up in that environment, you just think it’s your normal until you get out of it. Narcissistic abuse. Have you heard of it? I was the black sheep. I left home real young, like, 17. I went to the Salvation Army, I […]

Bella

“Unfortunately, sometimes people who love you the most make decisions that you didn’t necessarily want. For me it took two decades not to accept those decisions and take control of what I wanted to do with my life. I started singing when I was six and I knew I wanted to be a performer. I […]

Hana

“I’ve been involved in Te Ahu Pātiki (Conservation Park) since before its inception, but I’ve only been formally on the board since 2022. The founding board members wanted me to go on for quite a while, but my life was pretty busy; I didn’t feel like I could give it what it needed. I represent […]

Tutu

“I’m from Tamaki Makaurau. I have a good job with Riverside market. I am security, and we need this area nice and clean. We don’t want dirty things everywhere, like rubbish. I like Christchurch because there’s lots of entertainment, lots of people, all loving, give me aroha, tautoko mai. Kia kaha, be strong.” I’ve been […]