Aotearoa Adventures: The New Zealand Travel Podcast

Viktoria De Dominicis left the rat race in Chicago a decade ago and now calls Queenstown home. She shares how a spur-of-the-moment first trip to India in her twenties opened up years of travelling through Southeast Asia and South America, before she landed in New Zealand and knew within a year that it was home. She talks about six years in Wellington, chasing the town-belt trails to a lookout where she could see the South Island, then moving south to Queenstown with her second baby on the way. From road trips through the Mackenzie to a Doubtful Sound cruise with her kids, Viktoria reflects on building community far from family, and why New Zealand can still make you feel like the only person for miles.

Thank you so much for tuning in and coming along for the ride. If you love the show and enjoyed listening, please take the time to leave a review on Apple or Spotify. I would also love to connect with you, so send me a DM on Instagram, leave me a voice message and I can't wait to see you next time. Until then, keep adventuring :)

Follow Viktoria on Instagram: instagram.com/viktoriawanders/
Visit Viktoria's website: www.viktoriawanders.com/
Read Viktoria's Substack: viktoriawanders.substack.com/

Follow Aotearoa Adventures on Instagram: instagram.com/aotearoa_adventures_/
Follow Abigail on Instagram: instagram.com/abigailhannnah/
Follow Abigail on TikTok: tiktok.com/@abigailhannnah/

Laura Bell is a Kiwi living in Melbourne who came home this year to cycle the length of the country. With time off between jobs, she took on Tour Aotearoa, the 3,000 km bikepacking route from Cape Reinga to Bluff, riding it with her dad. She shares how they rode semi-supported over 31 days, changing direction on day one to dodge a fierce southerly, sleeping in the trailer-cabin he built from old refrigeration panels, and working through a hard fight on the Timber Trail. Having started the ride off the back of burnout and grief, Laura reflects on the simple rhythm of eating, sleeping and pedalling, and why a hard day was never a reason to quit.

Thank you so much for tuning in and coming along for the ride. If you love the show and enjoyed listening, please take the time to leave a review on Apple or Spotify. I would also love to connect with you, so send me a DM on Instagram, leave me a voice message and I can't wait to see you next time. Until then, keep adventuring :)

Follow Laura on Instagram: instagram.com/adventure.revolution/

Follow Aotearoa Adventures on Instagram: instagram.com/aotearoa_adventures_/
Follow Abigail on Instagram: instagram.com/abigailhannnah/
Follow Abigail on TikTok: tiktok.com/@abigailhannnah/

David Haunschmidt is an emergency medicine doctor who moved from Scotland to New Zealand. Working around shift work, he shares how days walking DOC tracks turned into trail running, then ultramarathons. In just two years David found himself on podiums, with course records, an XTERRA world title and fastest known times on Great Walks. David talks about his first mountain race on the Karioi Trail near Raglan, running the Kepler, Milford and Rakiura tracks across one six-day summer down south. David doesn't run to win, but he does it because it's fun and adds more life to his days. He reflects on getting into running later in life, listening to his body through injury and the 1% improvements that add up.

Thank you so much for tuning in and coming along for the ride. If you love the show and enjoyed listening, please take the time to leave a review on Apple or Spotify. I would also love to connect with you, so send me a DM on Instagram, leave me a voice message and I can’t wait to see you next time. Until then, keep adventuring :)

Follow David on Instagram: instagram.com/david_zebedee/
David's coaching and website: davidzebedee.com
Read the Blog: www.abigailhannah.nz
Follow Abigail on Instagram: instagram.com/abigailhannnah/
Follow Aotearoa Adventures on Instagram: instagram.com/aotearoa_adventures_

Penzy Dinsdale works in expedition medicine, from Antarctic ships to Everest Base Camp. She shares her 48-day traverse of Fiordland, the sequel to her 85-day Southern Alps journey, which together complete a full South Island traverse from Farewell Spit to Slope Point, a goal she has had since university. Penzy talks about packrafting the lakes and fiords with strangers-turned-friends she met online, crossing Centre Pass in 100kph winds, losing her inReach at Stevens Falls, and being invited aboard a yacht in Dusky Sound for a hot shower and crayfish. She reflects on building a career around adventure, setting a deadline to make a big trip happen, and still processing what finishing it means.
Thank you so much for tuning in and coming along for the ride. If you love the show and enjoyed listening, please take the time to leave a review on Apple or Spotify. I would also love to connect with you, so send me a DM on Instagram, leave me a voice message and I can’t wait to see you next time. Until then, keep adventuring :)
Follow Penzy on Instagram: instagram.com/penzyd/
Penzy's photography: southerlystormphotography.com
Follow Abigail on Instagram: instagram.com/abigailhannnah/
Follow Aotearoa Adventures on Instagram: instagram.com/aotearoa_adventures_

Shalane Hopkins is an author, speaker and coach based in Otago, originally from Canada. In 2010 she walked the length of the country on Te Araroa, more than 3000 km from Cape Reinga to Bluff, before the trail had officially opened. She shares how she walked it with friend, a backpacker she had known only four days, carrying a map and compass instead of GPS, on a tight budget. Shalane talks about the culture shock of tramping, a week of rain through North Island farmland, a bout of giardia, and helping with the Christchurch earthquake recovery in 2011. Fifteen years on, she reflects on her memoir One Step at a Time, scaling a big goal back to the next step, and learning to stop making herself small.

Thank you so much for tuning in and coming along for the ride. If you love the show and enjoyed listening, please take the time to leave a review on Apple or Spotify. I would also love to connect with you, so send me a DM on Instagram, leave me a voice message and I can’t wait to see you next time. Until then, keep adventuring :)

Follow Shalane on Instagram: instagram.com/shalanehopkins
Get Shalane's memoir One Step at a Time: shalanehopkins.com
Follow Abigail on Instagram: instagram.com/abigailhannnah
Follow Aotearoa Adventures on Instagram: instagram.com/aotearoa_adventures_