The fascinating New Zealanders we met in 2024

We met some fascinating Kiwis this year, all with very different tales to tell - from spongy gardens and tracking lost dogs to poetry publishing by candlelight.

Here are some of RNZ's top yarns from 2024.

Poet David Merritt's 'rural Gothic' life

The poet's job description is "keep your eyes open, your heart alert and allow a little bit of serendipity in," David Merritt told RNZ's Music 101 in August.

Merritt lives off-grid in the remote North Island village of Mangamahu. A one-man cottage industry, he publishes his poetry through Landroverfarm Press and travels throughout the country giving readings.

His journey to this point has been about as varied as it could be - tour manager, early adopter computer geek, sports subeditor and street poet.

Home life is simple but productive in remote Mangamahu - population 57.

"It has no store, nothing. It's just a rural farming community in the middle of nowhere between Hunterville and Whanganui, Ohakune and Martin, everything is 52km away.

"No cell phone coverage. There's no such thing as broadband internet... that's when I started to work out a method where I could manufacture and publish books of poems by candlelight."

The life suits him, and he is in good health - cataracts and a love of nicotine notwithstanding.

"I've been a chain smoker for 50 years. You find your vices and you stick to them. I think that's one of the secrets to life."

He has no regrets about the direction his life has taken.

"I think there's a lot of lot of pressure to succeed too early in life and to not make mistakes. But funnily enough, the job description says you are not going to succeed till you're older and you're going to make a lot of mistakes."

The Porirua hairdresser taking TikTok by storm

Back in June, RNZ's Nights spoke to Porirua-based Jasmine Lupo who was busy building a huge social media audience with videos of her hair transformations, racking up more than 35 million views on TikTok alone.

"When I started my TikTok, that's when it started blowing up, I think because there's not much saturation of hairdressers on TikTok. And I saw a gap there. I was like, 'oh, I wonder what would happen?' And then it just got massive," she told Emile Donovan.

Lupo works hard to establish trust with her clients.

"I know my purpose when I'm working, and that is to make whoever is sitting in my chair feel welcome and make them feel like they can trust me with their hair."

Mark van Kaathoven's recipe for a spongy garden

Just like a sponge cake, a sponge garden needs the right ingredients to make it rise, landscape gardener Mark van Kaathoven told RNZ's Saturday Morning in October.

He has been using the concept on his own 427sqm property in inner Auckland, and through droughts and floods in recent years, his garden has flourished.

Your garden will thank you for mimicking the layering that goes on in nature, according to van Kaathoven.

"You've got to put the right ingredients together for the garden you want to have for the future."

His spongy garden is also a haven for wildlife.

"I've got morepork in my backyard. I've got kererū, I've got tūī, I got fantails, I've got gray warblers, it's gorgeous, and I'm 15 minutes from the Sky Tower."

Don Schwass, NZ's go-to dog tracker

After decades of searching for people lost in the wilderness, Don Schwass has become New Zealand's go-to dog tracker.

The Richmond fish and chippie owner's skills have his phone ringing off the hook, and he has an over 85 percent chance of finding a missing mutt - even if he is not on site.

The best way to locate a dog is to avoid searching for it, he told RNZ's Nine to Noon in August.

In most cases a dog that has run away is in flight mode, so actively looking and calling for them is the opposite of what you should be doing, he said.

"A dog has three senses: eyes, ears and nose. Eyes and ears are for staying away from trouble. And so, if they hear you or see you, they'll just run. And the way I do things is slightly different I appeal to the nose.

"Every dog has a marker, the favourite person. The nose tells the eyes and ears to stand down."

The idea of a lost dog is a human notion, and so searching for it as you might a lost human will only make things worse.

"The best thing you can do is go to point last seen and sit down, sit there for about an hour. And if your dog's in that area, it will appeal to its nose eventually, because the scent cone gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and your dog will come out and come to you."

New Zealand's oldest female boxer riding high after winning in Australia

Reefton's Lisa Ryan is New Zealand's oldest female boxer, at the ripe age of 55.

Back in June Ryan had a knockout win at the Ageless Warriors amateur tournament in Australia.

She needs a challenge to get motivated, she told RNZ's Nights.

"My fear of humiliation will usually drive me to make sure I do the training and then able to compete."

Boxing since the 1990s, getting back in the ring has empowered her.

"It's helped get me through, it's good both for me, you find what's good for you, don't you? But for me, mentally and physically, it's a really good mix."

These could be her golden years and has no plans to retire just yet.

"I've had two knee surgeries on my right knee and one on my left, but I still managed to box, probably a bit too much road running and squash back in the day.

"But you know, I can still move around and it's an all-body workout and it's not too jarring on what little cartilage is left in the knees. So, whilst I still can keep moving, I think I'll just keep at it."

David Miller: 'The lure of money filled my nostrils'

"I thought 'this is a gold mine'. He lent me a rifle, and I went off. And after three trips, I managed to shoot my first deer," hunter and author David Miller told Nine to Noon in August.

Miller said in the late 1960s, if he shot and delivered a deer to buyers, he would rake in more than he made in his day job in a week. He had a good job too, a civil engineer at a local council.

He had no interest in hunting until a chat with mate in a pub alerted him to the price venison was fetching.

"He told me he'd just got $100 for a deer, and I scoffed a bit, because I was pretty highly paid at the council, and $100 was more than I was earning in a week. In fact, I was one of the higher paid people, and I was on about $60."

These days $100 does not go far, but in the 1960s it was serious money.

"It would buy you 170 litres of petrol, it'd buy you about 700 loaves of bread, it'd buy you 200 jugs of beer. So, $100 was a was a lot of money, and 30 deer would buy you a brand-new Vauxhall Velox car."

All good things come to an end, however.

"The boom time stopped in about 1972 and it just fell to bits, so from over $1 a pound, it went to 23 cents. So, you sort of knocked it on the head then."

Taranaki powerlifter on top of the world after battling grief, serious illness

Just before her father died in 2023, champion athlete Ashleigh Hoeta made him three promises. And she kept them all.

She promised to be first woman in the world to bench press more than 300kg, to win the New Zealand arm wrestling championships, and to keep going.

The Taranaki powerlifter's athletic achievements were all the more remarkable given they happened less than four years since learning to regain movement again, following a stroke.

It was in 2020 that Hoeta noticed she had pins and needles in her leg, she told RNZ's Nine to Noon in July.

"I was in Hamilton, which is three hours away from where I was living at the time, and I had pins and needles in my leg. And we drove home and just assumed it would go away. But it didn't. I rang Healthline because I didn't really understand what was going on.

"She asked if I could smile in the mirror, and the right side of my face smiled. The left side remained kind of droopy and she immediately called an ambulance."

Hoeta was rushed into hospital and told she had suffered a stroke.

She fought hard during her rehab in the months that followed,

"The first few days, it was literally me sitting there, opening and closing my hands and standing on one foot. And that would last about five seconds. And then it went to doing one push-up and doing a sit-up and walking around the house."

This formidable mental resilience ran in the family.

"My dad, he was dealing with a terminal illness for a few years, and he never let it get him down. Even though he was told to rest at home, he was always trying to go fishing or on his motorbike.

"And it was just, 'I gotta keep going, I want to live my life to the fullest'. And that's what I want to take with me in life. I want to live my life to the fullest. And I don't want to have any regrets, if I was to pass away tomorrow."

She hopes her achievements will act as an inspiration for her children.

"I want them to grow up and know that the sky's the limit. I want them to know that they can do anything that they set their minds to do. I want them to be determined even if they don't do sport. And I want them to love whatever they're doing."

Stuart McEwen, the tall man in a van taking the plunge around Aotearoa

Stuart McEwen has dedicated much of his life to sport, from playing professional basketball in the US to coaching the next generation of players back home.

In 2023, the grind caught up with him, and he knew something needed to change. So he decided to take the plunge, literally, into a new way of life.

For the first four months of the year, the 31-year-old Wellingtonian took a hiatus from work to travel the country in his van, immersing himself in every river, lake and sea along the way.

"I was feeling burnt out. I knew I needed to change the way I was operating, so I decided to take a break.

"The landscape, the nature we have in New Zealand is so stunning and healing, and I've always wanted to do something cool with my time, so I thought I'd take the plunge, not only literally just in water, but in a different way of living."

McEwen began his journey in Ōtaki in February 2024, exploring Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Wairarapa, Wellington's south coast, Picton, and Blenheim.

Along the way, he met memorable locals, like Picton's Dave - a "cigarette-smoking, Coke-Zero drinking, yarn-spinning legend" who treated McEwen to an eight-hour boat ride.

By April, McEwen's plunge tour ended, leaving him with advice for fellow adventurers.

"Drive or campervan around New Zealand. Visit areas longer than a day. Beauty is everywhere - mountains, lakes, rivers. I can't speak enough about how good it feels to get into the water and open air."

Ella Ewens, 'worldschooling' one continent at a time

A year of travel introducing children to the delights of different countries and cultures can be educational, memorable, and challenging. Ella Ewens recalls one such moment in India, months into a family journey to 25 countries.

Ewens, her husband Darren Rawlins, and their kids Isabella, 9, and Hugo, 7, were walking near the Ganges River when they encountered a legless, armless man begging with a bell in his mouth.

"They talked about that one for a while, as you can imagine ... we found that quite full on."

Moments like these sparked family conversations about privilege and poverty - central to why they embarked on this year-long journey.

The family, part of the worldschooling movement, aims to escape routine and embrace life as a hands-on education.

"We think it's really important to build tolerance in the children and let them understand different ways of life. And we certainly feel like we've been exposed to that and had some experiences to help us on our way there."

Planning began 10 months before their February 2024 departure, and the children were involved, giving them a sense of ownership.

While they adjusted to new cultures, climates, and missing friends, the family built lasting memories.

Their journey has spanned Southeast Asia, Europe, Central America, and Colombia, and the family has travelled light, using public transport and limiting unnecessary expenses to keep travel costs manageable.

"Kids love routine," according to Ewens, who emphasises simple joys like porridge breakfasts and strolls through local supermarkets.

"It's amazing seeing [the kids] learn so much and having those experiences together."

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