We rounded up 12 notable (and one honorary) New Zealanders for our Nine Questions With... column during the Great NZ Road Trip. Here’s a summary - but by no means an exhaustive list - of some of the best answers. The full set of columns are published on
The Great New Zealand Road Trip: The best of our Nine Questions with notable New Zealanders
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World Cup-winning Black Fern Ruby Tui. Photo / Michael Craig
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Alexia Hilbertidou: I live in the Hibiscus Coast north of Auckland. There are 15 beaches along the coastline of Ōrewa and Whangaparāoa Peninsula from Hatfields Beach to Army Bay. If you live in Auckland and haven’t been to the Shakespeare or Wenderholm regional parks, you are seriously missing out. Truly world-class, nothing can beat them.
Katherine Rich: Wellington is a great place to set up a business, particularly digital technology-based businesses. It has a vibrant, collaborative commercial ecosystem and there have been many successes from Hnry, Sharesies, Raygun (the firm – not the Olympic breakdancer), PikPok, and of course, Xero and Weta Digital.
3. What are your passions?
Simon Bridges: Seeing exciting things happen in Auckland that keep people here and attract more talented folks in. To reuse my word from earlier, this is uneven. We’ve a lot to celebrate but so have a lot of other places. Whether it’s Shanghai, Chicago, or Sydney, we want to ensure we are up there with other global cities both in terms of what makes us uniquely special but also how we foot it with the best on things everyone wants in terms of jobs and amenities for work and play.
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4. Which New Zealander (alive or dead) do you most admire – and why?
Matt Heath: The World War II plastic surgeon Archibald Hector McIndoe who treated Royal Air Force airmen with serious facial burns. McIndoe not only made huge strides in plastic surgery but also implemented some highly successful psychological innovations.
He encouraged the burnt men in his care to integrate into society as soon as they possibly could. He would take them to bars and social gatherings to get them used to how people reacted to their injuries. He wanted them to choose to be proud of who they were, wherever they were, no matter how they looked to others or what people said.
Many people finding themselves in that condition would have hidden away from the world, but most of these men, in no small part thanks to the work of McIndoe, went out and met new people, got married and had families.
They formed the Guinea Pig Club and met up and celebrated each other and the work of the great New Zealander McIndoe for the rest of their lives. There is a great doco on YouTube about the man and talk of a feature film. That great New Zealander changed so many unfortunate people’s lives for the better, mentally, and physically.
Lulu Sun: [Sir] Peter Jackson. I’m a really big fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (isn’t everyone?). But the one important thing he also did was to highlight the stunningly varied and beautiful landscapes and ethereal wilderness of New Zealand. He successfully put the country on the global map whilst also inspiring countless creatives in all sorts of disciplines worldwide. That kind of impact is really impressive.
5. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Ruby Tui: Winning a Rugby World Cup at home.
Mai Chen: After a hard week at work with tight deadlines where I post some wins, save some clients and solve some big problems, I wake up on a Saturday and it’s a day which is (as Natasha Bedingfield sings) “unwritten” – for me to decide what I want to do, when I want to do it, and with whom. I can be spontaneous. No appointments, no must-dos, no homework, no dead rats to swallow, no difficult conversations. Just my favourite class at Les Mills, “The Trip”, buying all the food I like and cooking and eating it, walking our Border Collie beside the sea, having a swim, and hanging out with my family at home on my favourite couch on the porch looking out at our garden. And taking no work calls!
6. What is your greatest fear?
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Sir Ashley Bloomfield: Another pandemic in the near future (the world is not well-prepared; it’s like we’re pretending the last one didn’t happen).
7. What is it that you most dislike?
Phil Smith: I’m not a social media guy. I’m lucky to do lots of amazing things, film sets, travel to Cannes, LA and Europe a lot, and I could make a right peacock of myself. I just like texting a pic to my treasured family and friends on my phone – and keeping it private, making it mean something. Broadcasting a fake representation of yourself, in the hope of pushing other people down, it’s depressing. But when used with good intentions – I do understand its connective value for many people. The worst kind of social media dicks are former Kiwis who go abroad and then tell everyone here how s*** NZ is. They can f*** off and stay there – or come back and do something positive about it. Otherwise – so what? You live in France? With strangers?
But what I dislike the most are the monopolies in NZ – the banks, the supermarkets. We are being ripped off. We need a national supermarket: it’s a crime that we overproduce wool, meat, fish, timber, wine – and it’s more expensive here than anywhere else in the world. Can someone tell me why?
Joseph Parker: Oh, I dislike Brussels sprouts. I remember back when I was training in Vegas with Kevin Barry, there were times where we had Brussels sprouts and I dreaded eating these things. But listen, I’m sure someone could change my mind and cook them a different way. But as of now, it’s Brussels sprouts.
8. What is on your bucket list?
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Matt Watson: I’d like to see a full canopy of native trees on our property – I’ve planted 46,000 so far and I’m about halfway. Would love to see it done in my lifetime but if not, my kids will.
9. What do you hope/think NZ will look like in 10 years?
David Lomas: I hope the current politics of blame, crime fear-mongering and race bashing will have become a thing of the past and that the Government in power in 10 years’ time will take a long-term view on projects that are good for New Zealand instead of the short-term, knee-jerk actions that saw the recent cancelling of the Cook Strait ferry replacements and the Dunedin Hospital cut-back.
Shaun Wallace: A thriving economy, an increasingly influential player on the world stage and finally, still producing the best rugby players in the world 👏🏾👍🏾😊❤️👊🏾💪🏿🤞🏾✌🏾
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor.
