About The Show

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About The Show

This series is now finished.

Previous episodes featured these Extraordinary Kiwis:

Stunt Star
Zoe Bell grew up as a keen young gymnast with a taste for martial arts. Her career as a stunt double took her to Hollywood, where she now has a leading role as herself in Quentin Tarantino's latest action movie.

Heart of the North
Ricky Houghton is helping to transform the lives of some Northland Maori, assisting them to break in land that's never been productive, finding them jobs and business funds, and rescuing homes from mortgage sales. For more information visit the He Korowai Trust website by clicking here He Korowai Trust

A Thousand Words
Publishing is not the obvious career choice for a dyslexic teenager, but for Geoff Blackwell it was. His photographic competition "MILK" was the largest ever held and the books have sold millions worldwide. He has also published photographic books on some of the most famous people on the planet, including Nelson Mandela and Princess Di.
Check out the MILK Website -Moments Intimacy Laughter Kinship
To visit the PQ Blackwell website click here

Motorcycles and Mountaineer's legs
New Zealand engineer Wayne "Cowboy" Alexander has a list of achievements that would make your head spin. Wayne - or "Cowboy" as his friends know him made the revolutionary artificial legs that double amputee mountain-climber Mark Inglis used to ascend Mt Cook For more information from Te Papa click here.

Russia's Forgotten Children
After a street kid attempted to pickpocket her in Vladivostok in 1997, Rachael Hughes began her quest to provide social support to
Russian children forgotten and discarded by their families and the State.
Click here to go to the Living Hope website for more information

Kia Kaha - A Love Affair. The inspirational story of how a whanau-run business went from a part-time operation selling t-shirts at flea markets and hui, to a thriving international clothing business.
Click here to visit the website

Saving The World. A garage in an Auckland suburb is an unlikely laboratory for a 57-year- old millionaire with a passion to change the world - but Ray Avery is anything but typical. Click here to find out more.

True Grit. As a teenager, Nathan Fa'avae was going off the rails, until an outdoor pursuits course set him on a pathway to become a world champion in the gruelling sport of adventure racing.
Check out his website here

About the Show:

New Zealand is full of successful Kiwis of whom little or nothing is known - each has their own inspiring story of success. 'NZ Stories' explores these personal journeys, seeing a diverse range of Kiwi's sharing their experience and road they travelled to reach their goals.

The stories include one man who heads a team of scientists and business who are using their kiwi ingenuity to save thousands of lives; the woman behind a whanau-run business which went from selling t-shirts at flea markets to a thriving international business; a teenage tearaway who became a world sporting champion; a young New Zealand woman who provides hope for hundreds of Russian children forgotten and discarded by their families and the State; and a modest entrepreneur whose hard work and a can do attitude took his unique publishing project to the world.

TVNZ commissioner Jude Callen says it's great to be able to share these aspriational stories celebrating lesser known New Zealanders: "Through great ideas, sheer hard work and determination, passion and compassion, have found success in their lives."