Out of her comfort zone

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes might be used to the red carpet but she's not afraid to rough it for Intrepid Journeys, writes Deborah Hill Cone.

Attracting worldwide fame when you are 10 years old probably bashes any scaredy-cat tendencies out of you. Only the non-drippy survive. And almost a decade after her sudden stardom as Paikea in Whale Rider, actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is not afraid to say what she wants.

She is almost 21 now; an unshrinking violet who can wrangle international agents and film-makers and deal with the demands of movie directors, the celebrity industrial complex and an international profile.

For example, in this interview she would like the questions supplied beforehand, thank you very much. And she won't be talking about her personal life. Not surprising, really, since the one quote attributed to her on her online biography on the internet movie database is: "Your private life should be private. I reckon that's a good thing that you talk about your work and you talk about what you're doing but without having to go into how your brother's been and how your mum's been because none of that's really relevant."

It is this beyond-her-years inner sang-froid that attracted the eye of Jam TV, the producers of long-running TV One series Intrepid Journeys, which sends well-known characters on trips to obscure or wobbly destinations. They approached her to become the youngest participant in the programme - and then sent her to Africa. Her episode screens on February 17.

It is not an assignment for the fainthearted, of whatever age. Last week, Intrepid Journeys host Frank Bunce was caught up in the riots and violence erupting in Egypt. The prospect of danger didn't phase Castle-Hughes.

"I jumped at the chance," she says.

"I definitely wanted to go somewhere that was outside of my comfort zone. [But] I was also a little terrified."

Her mystery destination was revealed to be Tanzania, Kenya and Zanzibar.

While some people might be worried about safety, or the craziness of a different culture or being so far from home on their own, Castle-Hughes confesses she faced slightly odder anxieties: birds and tents.

Castle-Hughes says she was comfortable with being in a foreign country - she spent time on a film set in Morocco for The Nativity Story so North Africa didn't feel totally unknown. She was also on her own and away from her family for Christmas but she didn't freak out at any of that.

"Being an actor is a very lonely life," she explains.

"You spend a lot of time without family and friends." But wildlife, and birds particularly, trigger her fight or flight response. "Mum always said if they remade [Hitchcock classic] The Birds it would take no work on my part to play the lead role. I don't like birds. Everything from little sparrows to chickens. It's the motion of the wings, the flapping, the sounds and the eyes. It makes me feel very uneasy. [In Tanzania] they pride themselves on their native birds. They have birds the size of small children. It became this running theme every time I saw them. I am terrified of birds."

The wildlife experience wasn't much of a thrill for her, either. "I am not a huge animal fan. I got anxious I was going to get eaten by lions." And the practical considerations of camping were also stressful. Castle-Hughes said she felt safe about being in Tanzania but she was not used to the practical demands of roughing it. Having to put up and take down her own tent was a challenge.

"In Tanzania I camped and 85 per cent of the time I slept in a tent. It was the first time I'd ever camped in my life. We would do huge amounts of distances during the day and for an hour before we stopped I would be dreading the thought of trying to put up the tent. Then I couldn't sleep thinking I was going to have to put it down again in the morning. It never got easy for me."

Reading that written down, I hope Castle-Hughes doesn't come across as a diva. Because she didn't sound precious about it - just honest.

The most banal things are often the hardest, especially since other people frequently find them easy. On the other hand, she wasn't fussed about going 12 days without a shower. "You just smell," she says matter of factly. Some people find interacting with people nerve-racking. Castle-Hughes finds interacting with tents trickier, but then people are her forte - and it seems she charmed the locals in Africa. You can't charm a tent.

"The great thing is the show really focuses on going out and forming relationships. It's terrifying with language barriers; you don't know what to say and with cultural differences knowing what's respectful and what's not. But the people were so beautiful and so accommodating. I was not there as a journalist or in a touristic manner. I wanted to learn about them. They welcomed me into their homes and let me play with their children and cook with them."

The food was no problem. "I ate so much more than I ever eat at home," she says. "The culture is like when I go home to my Gisborne aunties, they want to feed me up. The food is incredible with the effort that goes into the preparation and [it's] all cooked on one fire."

As an actress Castle-Hughes is known to inhabit the characters that she plays but this time she didn't swot up. "I didn't read up a lot before I went. I didn't want to go in there well researched. I went in there with an open mind - I wanted to learn everything."

She was surprised by the diversity of the country - it was not all savannah or dry and the differences between the north and south parts of the region. She covered a lot of territory and got a lot of thinking time.

"I had a lot of time for self-reflection. I had such a huge year last year, so I enjoyed being by myself to just sit and breathe. It was a humbling time. At the time of year - Christmas - when there is all this materialism in the western world, to go to a place where none of that exists ..."

As someone who is used to performing someone else's words, it was also a new experience having no script. "I am not very skilled at presenting. It requires you to be yourself but a heightened reality version of yourself. I have focused on creating characters who are so real I talk about them to my friends as if they are a real person, so I felt a bit awkward and didn't know what to do with myself. I was desperate for a bit of direction. On film sets every move is determined and decided for you."

But watching an Intrepid Journeys presenter relax in front of the camera is part of what makes the format entrancing; for example former prime minister Jenny Shipley went from uptight and statesmanlike to relaxed and almost hippie-ish on her trip to Namibia.

"You see that progression onscreen where you are trying to be like a travel show to start with - 'Okay guys! Here we are in Tanzania!' - and then you have a camera in your face from when you wake up to when you go sleep so you become yourself," she admits.

"I'd say dorky things, I'd feel emotional and vulnerable and other times I would be having the time of my life. There is a very confusing sense of time going on. You are moving so quickly so one day feels like it lasts for 10 days."

Castle-Hughes says she hasn't seen the show yet but since she got home she has had a few pangs about how she will come across. " I do find myself thinking I hope they cut that dorky bit out. I hope they don't show me dancing!"

Intrepid Journeys with Keisha Castle-Hughes screens on TV One, Thursday February 17 at 8.30pm. She also appears in the TV3 series The Almighty Johnsons, which debuts tomorrow at 9.30pm.

- Herald On Sunday / View