Aotearoa Adventures: The New Zealand Travel Podcast

Hailing from Upper Hutt, Tilleigh Ultra shares how her childhood was filled with local trips in and around the North Island. As she got older, she grew an appreciation for travelling locally and exploring regions closer to home. From hiking for the Duke of Edinburgh Award to organising a road trip with high school friends, Tilleigh loves the freedom, flexibility and affordability that local trips...

While some people find that they can't travel because they have to look after their pets, Courtney Mellow has a better idea - take your furbabies on your adventures. Courney is a dog-mum to two gorgeous Bernese Mountain Dogs, Koda and Kash, and has taken them on multiple roadtrips in the North and South Islands. Her advice to anyone who wants to travel with pets is to start them young and to do yo...

Meet Rob Hutchings, a chiropractor during the week and a triathlete and marathon swimmer on the weekends. Rob faced hardship in his childhood with an abusive and alcoholic father and endurance sports became his sanctuary. We dive into the details of one of his most epic multi-day adventures as the first person to swim the Clutha River - 256 kilometers down New Zealand's biggest, most powerful and...

Pamela Edmondson used slow travel as a tool to get out of a panic disorder. She says, "slow travel found me." Pamela has lived a turbulent life, growing up in Lebanon, emigrating to the USA, and then booking a one-way ticket to Aotearoa. We exchange stories on what it's like to travel with anxiety and depression, because, "no matter where you go, there you are." Pamela shares how slow travel allow...

Alastair McDowell and Hamish Fleming set out to do something no one had done before. Mountaineers often summit New Zealand's 3000m peaks over their entire alpine career, but this pair climbed all 24 peaks in just 31 days. They even surprised themselves when they completed this feat - everyone said it would be impossible. Alastair and Hamish share advice for anyone that wants to start alpine climbi...

Living in Marlborough, Mel White has the Nelson Lakes National Park on her doorstep. She shares about where her sense of adventure began - from annual holidays in the Mackenzie Region, to hiking Everest Base Camp and ticking off multiple hikes at her local Nelson Lakes National Park, including Angelus Hut and Parachute Rocks. Mel shares tips for solo hiking, photography, and some of her learnings...

With an 11 week old baby and a 4 year old, Sonia and her husband walked Aotearoa's longest continuous track - the 85 km long Old Ghost Road. Sonia got into geocaching and hiking while in uni, and had her wedding at a DOC hut. She talks about all five days of the Old Ghost Road trail, with details on logistics, nappies, tantrums, how to carry kids, what to pack, how to stay dry when it rains, and h...

Anja Barugh is a half-pipe skiier who competed for Team New Zealand in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She shares the journey from her first time on skiis at six years old, to moving to Wānaka, competing around the globe and qualifying for the Olympics. Anja talks about some of her adventures and mishaps along the way and what's coming up next for her. Anja also shares her advice for experienced...

Meet Greg and Lauren Cayford, the father-daughter duo that cycled 3,000 km from Cape Reinga to Bluff in 22 days. Following her battle with cancer a few years earlier, this was a daunting challenge for Lauren, and a test of her strength, fitness and endurance. The Tour Aotearoa is a bikepacking trip along some of NZ's finest cycling trails, including the Timber Trail, Waikato River Trail, Remutaka...

She visited over 60 countries before she visited the South Island, but now Tegan is excited to call Aotearoa home and makes the most travelling on the weekends, with her cat Gatsby Le Chat and her dog Senna in tow. A Northland girl, Tegan shares all her best advice for anyone that wants to travel with their pets - the questions to ask your accommodation host, what to pack, pet-friendly activity id...

When the pandemic disrupted Roscoe's travel company, he pivoted the business and created the Roady App. Pitching to investors at a shark-tank like situation with just an idea, Roscoe got the funding he needed to develop the app. Roscoe shares how he got to explore New Zealand and work with tourism boards, creating incredible content and ticking off bucketlist activities. The Roady App launched in...

Growing up on an isolated farm next to the ocean and hiking a lot as a kid, Shoshannah's life took a turn when she broke her back skiing in Canada. Post-lockdown in 2020, she found herself back in New Zealand travelling out of her stationwagon with a baby in tow. Shoshannah shares about her first overnight hike to Lake Marian in Fiordland - the breakthrough moment when she realised it's was possib...

Just a month out, Emily booked Great Walk tickets from someone else's cancellation. She then started training for what would be her first solo overnight multi-day hike, walking the Routeburn Track - which starts in Mt Aspiring National Park and ends in Fiordland. This episode is packed with so much helpful advice for anyone that wants to hike the Routeburn or any other Great Walk. Emily shares the...

Although #vanlife has been glamourised on social media in recent years, Goose and Ellen open up about the realities of living on the road full-time, without a physical house as a base. With several different vehicles that they've called home, in two countries, over three years, they are definitely pros at this. In this episode they share the highlights - like waking up for sunrise every morning; a...

The Te Araroa Trail stretches from Cape Reinga in the north to Bluff in the south. Aimee Roberts spent a couple of months walking the South Island section of the trail over summer. While it’s impossible to condense her experience into a short conversation, Aimee shares snippets into what it was like - bathtubs in the middle of the backcountry, the bluest water she’d ever seen, getting lost and cli...

You'll find her bouncing up a dirt track or hooning down the beach in her 70 series Land Cruiser named Sunny. Meet Bri Woolnough, a Wanaka-based photographer who's life motto is "broke, but stoked" which perfectly sums up the joyful way she embraces life. Her passion for the outdoors finds her surfing at the beach, hiking in the mountains and spending months on the road cruising around Aotearoa, s...

An outdoor enthusiast, Kristina Montgomerie has a giant spreadsheet of all the hikes she wants to complete in Aotearoa. In this episode, she shares some of her favourite hikes in the Taranaki region and we compare notes from hiking the Pouakai Circuit in opposite directions during different seasons. She also shares her experience hiking to Syme Hut in winter - the second highest hut in the North I...

Since age seven, Lucy spent her weekends on family camping trips and gradually built up to longer day-hikes and Great Walks across Aotearoa. Now in her teens, she shares her adventures to inspire other young people to experience the outdoors. In this episode, Lucy talks about one of her favourite hike to date - the Alex Knob track! She shares her best advice for you, whether you're walking it in a...

Dua's journey of growth from the Kepler Track being her first ever hike to being her first multiday hike a couple years later is inspiring. Her passion for Aotearoa, the outdoors, and hiking was so evident through her stories and through her voice. I am so in awe of her being the representation that she didn’t see growing up, breaking stereotypes and sharing her story as a hijabi that loves hiking...

Originally from the UK, Harry and Lydia have been travelling for the last year - first to Australia, then NZ, and they’re now in Bali! I talk to them about backpacking around New Zealand, their van Tilly and some of their favourite experiences in Aotearoa. With a working holiday visa, they lived and worked in Queenstown over the winter before hitting the road and taking content creation full-time...

No one is quite sure if he’s an aerial or landscape photographer, but we know he’s great with a camera. We first met on the shores of Lake Pukaki, under Mt Cook, but you’ll hear more of that story in just a minute. It just so happens that Aoraki Mt Cook is one of Billy’s favourite places on earth and today he’s sharing with me the stories behind the phenomenal doors-off helicopter flights he’s had...

From growing up in India, to slowly falling in love with Aotearoa, Abigail discovered a new love and passion for travel. Tune into the very first episode where she holds nothing back, sharing childhood travel experiences, her favourite NZ destinations and all the things in between! In this episode, you'll hear all about: The 'why' behind starting a travel podcast Treasured experiences from growing...

Welcome to Aotearoa Adventures, with your host, Abigail Hannah, the podcast for everything you need to know to travel New Zealand. I talk to photographers, vanlifers, moms, students, and everyday kiwis, to hear their inspiring stories from past adventures and to share helpful tips and tricks for your travels. Whether you're visiting Aoteaora for the first time and live on the road or you work a 9-...