A group of Auckland lifeguards will travel to Greece next Friday to help with the refugee crisis, but the team is facing some troubles of their own - financing the trip.
The group of six from Bethells Beach Surf Life Saving club put their hands up to travel to the Greek island of Lesbos, where tens of thousands of migrants have arrived by boat from Turkey to seek refugee status.
Rough weather and overcrowded boats have led to the deaths of hundreds of people attempting to get to Lesbos, with the island the scene of dramatic rescue missions as volunteers and lifeguards scramble to cope.
The lifeguards - Dave Comp, 54, Adi Jenkins, 52, James Kendrick, 20, Ben Challis, 47, Sofia Atheneou, 39, and Mason Dray-Hogg, 34 - leave on April 22, and will work alongside local rescue teams for three weeks.
The team replicated a mass rescue scenario in Auckland in preparation for the conditions, which team leader Adi Jenkins said are "like chalk and cheese" compared with New Zealand.