Travel hits and misses: Josh Hall

Josh Hall, right, with Matt Earle. Photo / Supplied

HIT

Our road trip filming Misadventures took us from Nelson right down the wild West Coast to the very bottom of the South Island. As we approached the end of our journey, we started to wonder how we could send it out with a bang. We wanted to do something crazy — really push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. It wasn't until a chance encounter with a retired Bluff fisherman with some crazy ocean tales that we decided what to do: a cage dive with Great White sharks. Before we knew it we were chucking on our wetsuits and getting ready to hop into a cage and drop into the sea. Underwater, it was eerily quiet.

At first, there was nothing to be seen, however not for long. Slowly, a black, shadowy creature appeared in the distance. My heart was beating rapidly and I can honestly say there has never been a time I have been more frightened than when it turned and began making its way directly toward us, its teeth glistening in the water. The fact that it turned out it was just a playful seal pup didn't change a thing. It was good, because I was able to get rid of my initial nerves, so when the actual sharks arrived I could sit back and appreciate how truly amazing they are. It's an experience I will never forget.

MISS

For us, one of the low points was our van. Don't get me wrong, we loved her dearly — she was our home away from home for the entire journey — but she was also a big hunk of junk. We bought her for $1800 in Nelson a few days before the trip. She was a sexy, black 1981 Toyota Hi-Ace, and the three of us fell in love almost immediately. After chucking a couple of new tyres on, a fresh battery and updating the stereo system, we hit the road in search of adventure.

Things ran smoothly at the start, however slowly but surely she started to fall apart. She would leak petrol, the oil cap burst off and smoke would constantly fill inside, and sometimes she would just simply refuse to start. Admittedly, these problems turned out to be user-error, and could have all been avoided if any of us had even the slightest knowledge about vehicles. Unfortunately, we didn't have a clue, and by the end of the trip she was just barely hanging on — but boy, did that van have guts. Thankfully she managed to scrape through until the end of the trip and we were able to wrap up the filming of the series. None of us could believe it and we were literally hugging and kissing her after shooting the final scene. Our trusty companion had pulled through. Then she shat herself and died about 3km down the road.

Josh Hall appears with Matt Earle in Misadventures, coming to Duke and TVNZ OnDemand on June 20.