The Great New Zealand Road Trip: What I learned after two weeks on the road in NZ (plus best town and other awards)

Editor-at-large Shayne Currie spent the past two weeks on the NZ Herald-MTF Great NZ Road Trip, travelling the length of the country meeting extraordinary Kiwis and uncovering great stories from our communities. As we head into summer, just what is the mood of the nation? And we look back on some of the many highlights.

What can a 3400-kilometre, two-week journey across New Zealand really tell you?

For me, it came in the form of a hug in the kitchen of Henare O’Keefe’s Hawke’s Bay home, as he sent me on my way with a karakia following our interview. O’Keefe has just been named the region’s business leader of the year – in part for a lifetime of community work, but more lately as the official “ambassador” of Hastings. I reckon more towns and cities can learn from his role – and how how he enriches and emboldens his community.

It came in the form of a cup of tea and a generous plate of biscuits in the seaside home of 85-year-old Mama Jewel Sucich in one of our most isolated settlements, Te Hāpua, in Northland. She eyed me a little suspiciously at first, but as we shared a cuppa, she related some extraordinary stories, including walking alongside Dame Whina Cooper at the start of her famous land march in 1975.

Mama Jewel Sucich, 85, has lived in Te Hāpua for 65 years.

That hospitality was extended wherever I ventured – a coffee with the remarkable Don Pelvin, who’s set up the Geraldine Military Museum with all manner of rare vehicles.

A coffee with Sounds Air chief executive Andrew Crawford in Blenheim – he said yes to an interview with barely an hour’s notice, as I drove off the ferry from Wellington.

Good Kiwis, from all walks of life, willing to share their stories. And there were so many good stories to write – Liam Gavin took me into the heart of his mānuka honey operation; Riley Elliott is a superstar on the world stage – a marine scientist whose love of sharks is helping change the narrative; Lyn Tankersley is leading the charge to build a shelter for more than a dozen homeless people in Masterton; and Lance Giles and Jordana Stott are pouring more than $10 million of their own money into a personal dream – their own feature film – and are adamant about wanting to invest in the Queenstown region.

Shark scientist Dr Riley Elliot.

All of them superb Kiwis, in their own right.

Every town and community welcomed me. In Waihau Bay, I met Haven Benton, 16, who was serving behind the counter of the store made famous by Taika Waititi’s Boy film. She spoke articulately of her dream to train as a paramedic in Wellington so that she could one day return to the community where emergency help is a long distance away.

Haven Benton at the Waihau Bay store – she featured as a small child in the movie Boy.

Similarly, first-year university student Summer Spragg was behind the counter at Karaka Lobster on State Highway 1 north of Kaikōura – she’s studying communications and Spanish, and could easily be a brilliant marketer if she chooses that path with the way she talked up the crays on sale.

I’m not trying to be too Pollyanaish. Times have been tough and still are in many parts of the country, but there also appears to be hope and a fair bit of optimism seeping through.

In places like Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, where many of the highways are still being pieced together following Cyclone Gabrielle, there is resilience. (This year I travelled mainly down the east coast of both islands, following my journeys to Southland, the West Coast and Taranaki last year.)

This is what Henare O’Keefe told me: “We’ve decided that we’re not going to bleed into the future anymore. We’re not going to play the victim anymore. We’ll grieve, we’ll get mad, we’ll get angry. But then sooner or later, you’ve got to embrace it and face it and that’s what we’ve done here. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable.”

‘We don’t know how lucky we are’ – do we?

More than 43,000 people responded to our admittedly very unscientific “Mood of the Country” online poll over the past two weeks.

We asked how you felt, with 1 being ‘meh’ and 10 being ‘joyful, happy as’.

As of Monday afternoon, 40% of people rated their mood between an 8 and a 10, and 76% rated themselves 5 (”so so”) or higher.

Compare that to the exact same poll and question last year, for which we had 33,000 respondents. In 2023, 39% of people were an 8, 9 or 10 and 74% were a 5 or higher.

So we’re perhaps just a little bit happier?

Our Nine Questions With ... columns featuring notable and noteworthy New Zealanders came up a range of pearlers.

Great Southern Television founder Phil Smith nailed it when he cited Bruce McLaren as the New Zealander (alive or dead) that he most admires.

“A visionary, a creative, a fearless champion. We have to learn from him. We are still so stupid that we ship fish, meat, wood and milk in bulk overseas.

“We need to use our amazing brainpower and enhance these primary products – we need to energise our creativity. Our future is limited by these bulk commodities. And it’s all carbon toxic. Foreign buyers hate this.

“But selling ideas and intellectual property? It has no cap. Unlimited potential. Take a page from Singapore. This is our future. And Bruce McLaren did that. Now let’s get Liam Lawson in a McLaren and play the NZ national anthem when NZ rocks F1!”

Liam Gavin beekeeper/apiarist and owner of Gavins Apiaries in Titoki. Photo / Shayne Currie

There are so many innovators and inspiring people in this country – check out the other Nine Questions with respondents, for starters.

I loved that The Chase star Shaun Wallace took the time to answer questions. A business leader and a leading sportsperson didn’t even bother responding to a polite request to take part.

But Wallace, who loves New Zealand, probably stands testament to Fred Dagg’s line in his famous song, We Don’t Know How Lucky We Are.

He wishes us a “thriving economy, an increasingly influential player on the world stage and finally, still producing the best rugby players in the world”.

Phil Smith gets the last word: “... if we come together and think big, we will rock. The other option isn’t so pretty. The more we fight internally the more we lose internationally. We’re all brothers and sisters stuck in this beautiful, remote place. Let’s call it the ‘optimistic island’. Let’s go!”

* The 3400km distance travelled includes the 400km-plus journey to get to the start line, from Auckland to Cape Rēinga

The Great NZ Road Trip 2024 Awards

Best communities: Waihau Bay (East Coast) and Te Hāpua (Northland)

Best town: Kaikōura

Best cities: Napier/Hastings

Best region: Central Otago (still)

Best drivers: Central Otago

Worst drivers: The impatient Auckland motorway drivers upon the return home yesterday (and a couple of Northlanders). Get a grip.

Friendliest people: Masterton

Most Insta-friendly road: State Highways 8 and 6 from Lake Tekapo to Queenstown

Best state highway drives: SH1 north of Kaikoura / SH35 around the East Cape

Best pub: Pūhoi

Best church: Raukokore, East Cape

Most road works: East Coast/Hawke’s Bay – understandable

Sunniest days: Whakatāne, Hastings and Queenstown

Wettest day: Kaikōura – but only light drizzle; it was a tremendous two-week run through the country

Best coffee: Little Bean South, Fairlie

Best museum: Don Pelvin’s Geraldine Military Museum

Best food stop: Karaka Lobster, SH1 north of Kaikōura

Best personalised plate: Jewely

Most road kill: East Coast

Best views: Take your pick – Mt Cook from Lake Tekapo; many spots between Blenheim and Kaikōura, Cape Rēinga, East Coast.

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.