Personalities

It may seem an unlikely combination for a top skier to be head winemaker at a picturesque New Zealand vineyard, but for Rippon’s Nick Mills it is a perfect blend.

Life is never dull in business or leisure for Henry van Asch, co-founder of AJ Hackett Bungy.

A revolutionary sports car that transforms into a speedboat at the touch of a button resulted largely from the drive and innovation of New Zealanders.

Ruth Pretty is a household name in New Zealand, recognised for her range of cookbooks, newspaper columns, TV appearances and catering business.

Some human beings simply can’t get enough adventure. Barely three months after becoming the first double amputee to conquer Mt Everest, and less than two months after surgery to remove five fingertips and more of his legs, Mark Inglis went paragliding over Lake Wakatipu.

'No matter where I am in the world, the East Coast of Aotearoa will always be my home. It's like the magnetic lodestone that keeps pulling me back to our island fortress at the bottom of the South Pacific,' Witi Ihimaera says.

Farming amid the exposed, mountainous landscapes on a high country farm, to singing in the Sydney Opera House, David McAtamney's career has certainly been out of the ordinary.

As unenticing as burnt toast may sound, it has certainly intrigued art buffs in galleries nationally and internationally, thanks to Maurice Bennett's pixilated 'toast portraits' and 'tapa cloth' toast designs.

When competing around the globe, world mountain bike champion Vanessa Quinn often thinks of the stunning trails back home in New Zealand.

New Zealand director Andrew Adamson is showcasing his home country to the world through one of his favourite childhood novels.