Silly journey for serious problem

Jimi Hunt says he was afraid to ask for help, but once he started, support started 'flooding in.' Photo / Supplied via facebook.com/LiloTheWaikato

A man has committed to making 425km journey down the mighty Waikato River - on a lilo.

After suffering from depression for over two years, Jimi Hunt decided he needed to get fit, but he wasn't really one for gyms and marathons.

"Stuff like that's just too boring so I sat down and came up with the idea of liloing from Taupo to Port Waikato and I ran with it. Now, six months, later it's turned into a juggernaut like you wouldn't believe.''

The Auckland-based designer decided to use his trip to raise awareness about depression and now has more than 7000 supporters on Facebook and is being sponsored by the Mental Health Foundation and Movember.

He's even upgraded from a $4.99 to a $7.99 Warehouse lilo.

He used to be so depressed that he'd spend his weekends crying in bed, and even small things like deciding what he should have for lunch would seem overwhelming.

But he put on a "mask'' whenever he was around other people, pretending everything was fine.

A key message Jimi wants to get across is that it's okay to ask for help, so he will rely on the goodness of strangers along the way.

"Each night I hop out, go knock on someone's door and say `hi, my name is Jimi and I happen to be liloing your river. Would you mind if I have some dinner and stay the night?'

"Because that was my problem: I spent two and a half years not asking for help and just being a big tough kiwi bloke who thought he could fight his way through (depression), when that was just straight-up impossible. When I actually asked for help it started just flooding in.''

Jimi thinks the trip will take around 14 days, paddling butterfly-style, stomach-down on his pink lilo.

He had planned to set off from the Lake Taupo flood gates at 10am.

You can find out more about Jimi's adventure on his Facebook page, Lilo The Waikato.