Aotearoa Adventures: The New Zealand Travel Podcast

Nick Thompson is a squash court engineer from the UK who builds all-glass courts for events like the New Zealand Open. Since 2022 he has returned almost every year, tagging on extra days to explore New Zealand and leading him to run Great Walks in a single day. He shares about that first year, running the Tongariro Northern Circuit on brownies alone and landing in hospital with an electrolyte cras...

To mark four years of Aotearoa Adventures, the tables turn and Abigail is interviewed. She shares her story, from growing up in India and moving to New Zealand at 18 to the 2020 South Island road trip in a 1990 rust box van that first opened her eyes to life on the road and made her world a little bigger. Abigail shares about struggling with depression, and rebuilding her identity. She talks about...

After four years and exactly 182 weekly episodes (plus a few bonuses) we are taking a pause. Since 2022, every single Friyay without fail (minus Christmas and New Years), a new epiosde has landed in your feed. Adventures from the tops of mountains, remote coastlines, hidden trails, icy glaciers, and deep fiords. You have shown up and listened week after week - from your cars, your trails, your gym...

Host Abigail and husband Isaac are reflect on the last section of the Slow Paddle sea kayak expedition from Cape Reinga to Tauranga. They share a day-by-day breakdown and decision making leading up to the end of the journey, challenges encountered, favourite moments on the water and what's coming next. Listen to Episode 162 and 178 for previous Slow Paddle episodes. Abigail & Isaac are kayakin...

Tyla grew up a gymnast, spending long hours inside - and found her freedom outdoors, especially underwater. Now based in Wellington, she shares how a childhood love of the ocean turned into a career as a scuba instructor, and why diving became her way to explore, teach, and slow things down. Tyla shares the technical side of diving, covering gear, qualifications, costs and options in New Zealand....

Alice is a tramper, blogger, speech & language therapist and mum, based in Southland. She shares about a special trip with her Dad to Cascade Saddle in Mt Aspiring National Park. Waiting for a rare bluebird weather window, they tackled the demanding route in late summer. It involved a relentless climb, exposed scrambling with huge drop-offs, and having to stash gear in long-drops away from kea...

Daniel Mauden is a German-born traveller and photographer, who now lives full time on the road with his partner Dinah. He shares about childhood family trips, volunteering stints in the US, India, and the Bahamas, and the spontaneous decision to move to Aotearoa. Daniel worked in Hamilton for several years, squeezing weekend adventures around full-time work, before leaving his job and freelancing...

Host Abigail and husband Isaac are halfway into a 2 month sea kayak expedition. They share about preparation for the expedition, waiting out weather, their favourite sections of coastline, what they loved most and what has been challenging. Get an inside look into a self-supported sea kayak expedition in New Zealand, and get inspired to get outside and go do that THING you've been dreaming of!...

Charlotte grew up outdoors, studied outdoor education, and has spent recent years with new pursuits - from canyoning and whitewater to learning to packraft. She shares about an epic South Island summer trip with her boyfriend, that was shaped by weather windows, flexibility and spontaneous decisions. After buying new packrafts just days before their adventure, their first trip to Lake Crucible whi...

Hannah Whittaker grew up loving travel and now based in Auckland, she shares how exploring New Zealand on weekends, rather than chasing big overseas trips, reshaped how she thinks about adventure, time, and comparison. She shares about her favourite Northland spots, from the Bay of Islands and Urupukapuka Island to Duke’s Nose, Kerikeri, Mangawhai Heads, and Langs Beach. Hannah also shares practic...

After up on a farm in rural Waikato, Lois Baldwin travelled and lived around the world through her 20s and 30s, raising a family overseas. It wasn't until her 40s that she started tramping and she's now gone on to complete all New Zealand's Great Walks. Lois loves bringing people together for tramping and has planned several family hikes with her kids and grandkids, including Abel Tasm...

Zeb Harris ⁠@backcountrykiwi ⁠ is a fast packer, trail runner, and YouTuber. He explains what fast packing is and how he loves to see how much ground he can cover with a light pack and a tight timeframe. Zeb shares about a weekend adventure - a 2 day fast pack of the Traverse–Sabine Circuit in Nelson Lakes National Park. Running on a few hours sleep, he covered 50km on the first day, with side-tri...

Te Aroha Hohaia grew up moving around the North Island, lived in a caravan as a child, and didn’t discover tramping until adulthood - starting with a summit climb of Taranaki. She shares how that first mentally and physically demanding experience reshaped her relationship with the maunga, leading to repeated climbs and a deeper connection with Taranaki. After getting hooked on tramping she decided...

Ben Boland is a born-and-bred Kiwi who didn’t grow up loving the outdoors - and once weighed close to 190kg. He shares how getting active in his 30s led him to walking tracks he never imagined tackling, starting with a humbling first Tongariro Alpine Crossing done mid–weight loss and with minimal planning. Since then he's done the Tongariro Crossing and Tongariro Northern Circuit several times. He...

Sagar and Ami moved to New Zealand separately 10 years ago; then after years of saving and planning, decided to take an "adult gap year" to travel the world. Coming from India, they share the cultural mindset shifts and safety nets required to leave their stable careers and the intentional steps they took before leaving their jobs, like buying a house and getting New Zealand citizenship....

Joel Buckley is an outdoor instructor who kayaked around the North Island solo and self-supported. He talks through how the idea formed early, what finally pushed him to commit, and how little he really understood about the scale of the challenge at the start. He shares about long paddle days, rough West Coast weather windows, gear failures and well as highs - like paddling with a baby dolphin in...

Verity Jackson has been tramping across New Zealand for decades and joining a tramping club opened up off track travel, navigation skills and lifelong friendships. Actively blogging and documenting her tramps online, Verity has bagged over 350 huts, a mix of easy-accessible hut and remote bivvys. She started 2025 with a goal to bag 25 huts, but halfway through the year, Verity was diagnosed with v...

This episode was originally published on Kiwi Yarns with Brodie Kane. Today’s guest has a job that, on the surface, many would describe as a "dream job" and say, "oh, how lucky!"While there’s no denying that the titles “travel blogger,” “travel writer,” and “travel photographer” have a certain allure, Abigail Hannah’s backstory is truly fascinating. Born in Aotearoa, Abigail sp...

This episode was originally published on the Creation in Isolation podcast with Billy Nunweek. The time has finally arrived, the Creation in Isolation Podcast is back, 5 years on from episode one. This time, I go full circle by inviting my good friend Abigail to sit down and chat about her journey from a young New Zealander, growing up in India through to running her own Social Media Management bu...

Please review Aotearoa Adventures wherever you listen. The annual wrap up - a summary of host Abigail Hannah's year - her travels, her podcast, her business, her life. Links: Support our fundraiser: www.slowpaddle.nz Find out more about Feijoa Social: www.feijoasocial.com Follow Abigail on Instagram: instagram.com/abigailhannnah Join the broadcast group Got questions, comments, suggestions? Se...

Nicola Harvie is a travel blogger, tramper and mum. In her twenties, she set a goal to complete all of NZ's Great Walks before turning thirty. Starting out new to tramping, Nicola finished the full list by age 27, squeezing in the Whanganui Journey while 26 weeks pregnant and ticking off tracks alongside friends, family and solo. She shares what it was really like walking the Paparoa Track soo...

Cat Macnaughtan never thought getting lost would become the heart of her life, but that is exactly what happened. After reconnecting with her teenage sweetheart and blending their families, Cat started a travel blog called Getting Lost, capturing the messy, joyful chaos of their new adventures together, and evolved into a card game, loved around the world. Cat shares stories of unplanned road trip...

Emily and Charles, the pair behind Aro, live full-time on the road with their two kids under 5. They packed up their home in Pukekohe, fitted out a custom caravan, and set off to tour Aotearoa - writing music, playing shows, and raising their kids along the way. Emily shares how she wanted to choose a life with more freedom, more adventure, realising that when the kids start school, it would be ha...

Hannah, Isabel and Harriet are three friends from Motueka who set out to link their local national parks in one continuous 18-day journey and why connecting the Nelson Lakes, Kahurangi and Abel Tasman felt meaningful after growing up in the region. They share what it was like to climb five ranges in six days, deal with blisters and rain-soaked gear, bike between sections and paddle into whitecaps...

Deni Estivill left her corporate job in Brisbane and found herself walking the length of Aotearoa SOBO on Te Araroa with only one overnight hike behind her. She shares how climate anxiety pushed her toward the trail, what it was like to start as a complete beginner and how quickly community formed around her. From the canoe section on the Whanganui River to a tough moment on a scree slope in the R...