Four finalists will take on the challenge of a lifetime walking 9 Great Walks in 9 Weeks.
"Ever since I was a little girl, with grubby knees and messy hair, I’ve been taught to explore."
"Walking with more vigor & briskness than should be endured by any mere mortal, nothing can keep this man from the wilderness."
"I am highly adaptable to new & challenging environments having survived living in remote China, learning Kung Fu daily."
"I know this isn't an easy task, the journey will be full of challenges, but I don't give up easily."
"I like to make people laugh and enjoy the world around them."
"I work freelance because the flexibility for spontaneous adventure is more important than a steady paycheck."
"I’m kind of hilarious. Not to blow my own horn here, but I’d be a fun Fourth Walker."
"I am an amateur mycologist so I could identify and perhaps cook edible mushrooms for the group!"
"I am a photographer-designer-writer living in Tokyo."
"I am an artist, a naturalist, and a philosopher. I see the world through these lenses."
"I work for a reality survival show as cameraman which is quite a physical challenge but I really love adventures."
"I've always been into creative stuff but my talents spark when I combine them with adventure."
"I belong to the species of flightless birds."
"I absolutely LOVE travel, and I love sharing that passion with anyone who will listen."
"I’ve got some pretty big feet – which I attribute, in part, to my being a truly Great Walker."
"I’ve gone from being pretty much confined to my home, to being able to travel the world."
"I’m a spirited gal, not afraid of much, and willing to try anything. With a new lease, I am ready to run free."
"The uniqueness of NZ's nature and the variety of interesting characters of her people, have always fascinated me."
"I am a skateboarder but I would definitely change my board into a pair of hiking boots."
"Spending time in the nature gives me the sense of responsibility that we must protect nature."
Dear Winners! If some of you for some reasons can’t participate in the Great Walk ))) Let me know! )))
I didn’t follow all comments in this multi-people talks, but I would be very interested about final decision!
Congrats to all the finalists! It must be such a torture to have to choose only 4 of these great people. After watching all your entries, I felt sick with the idea that I could be chosen instead of the more deserving and inspiring people up there. Good luck everyone!
Heaphy trek is absolutly awesome.. im sure the rest are great too however speaking from experience, heaphy offers a little bit of everything that New Zealand has to offer.
Really excited at meeting the winners when they come to the Tongariro. It’s a great opportunity for the guys. As a Ranger working here I get to be in the Park a lot but never lose the thrill of the spectacular landscape.
Hope they choose two women and two men…you know, to be fair.
Congratulations to all of the finalists – I am oh so sad that I didn’t make it. I would love to complete the walks that I have not yet experienced in NZ. We are so fortunate to have so many great walks available to us. Go the lot of you and keep us enthralled with your experiences!
I knew I was too old to be considered, even after successfully completing more than 8 Ironmans, years of marathons, and hiking mountains here in the States. Oh well, I guess there is “ageism” in New Zealand as well. Good luck to you young folks, have fun!
Oh wowsies, the competition is hot hot hot. These entries are absolutely marvelous! A great mix of inspiring and hilarious! Especially loving Kate’s bum cameo- had me snorting into my cereal.
Thanks for not choosing me! I got a job today! Full time! 40 hours! Journalism!
Per la prima volta deluso dalla Nuova Zelanda…
Florian, I absolutely agree with you: 4 from New Zealand and 4 from Australia to tell your country. I think is not a good idea. Bye Bye Air Zealand
Florian, I absolutely agree with you: 4 from New Zealand and 4 from Australia to tell their own country. I think is not a good choice but a big ALL BLACK hole… Bye Bye Air New Zealand!
Florian, I absolutely agree with you: 4 from New Zealand and 4 from Australia to tell their own country. I think is not a good choice… Bye Bye Air New Zealand!
Oops I meant rooting!
Ohhhh was routing for my husband Richard Morris who would have been perfect but congrats to all!!
Hi ANZ, I hate to do this but you haven’t been fair and you are keeping secrets: videos with multiple copyright music infringements, and that don’t meet the T&C in other ways… I’m going to approach the regulatory body, and report the violating vids to YouTube… unless you make this public and engage in an open discussion!
Anyway, I will come to NZ and walk some of the great 9! Good luck for the finalist!
Wow thanks Air NZ and DOC! I am so excited about this! I saw so many great entries it must have been near impossible to settle on 20. And they are all amazing! I’ve been in stitches watching them. Congrats and good luck everyone
Hi ANZ… why are you blocking my comment here? I didn’t say anything bad? I enjoyed the comp too!
Congrat’s to everyone to get this far. I had fun putting my video together, and imagining what it might be like to win!
So much Copyright Music! You selected people against your own T&Cs! I bet there’s a lot of people out there who wish they hadn’t worked so hard to create original content! But, yeah, congrats all
Pick the Kiwis!
Sad that my friend didn’t make it to the finalist list – her Pinterest entry was great! I agree with Florian (and others) that it seems a little unfair to choose NZers when they have the opportunity to walk the tracks anyway, but as it was open to all and sundry you couldn’t exclude them so fair enough. And not all NZers are able to walk all these walks either in a lifetime so a great opportunity for all. But just wish Beverley had made it through!
Thanks Glenda! next time
a bit dissapointed right now but thanks DOC, and ANZ for the chance. Time to compromize, I got the Appalation or PCT to work with for now.
PCT will be a life-changing adventure, trust me.
thats good to hear! im checking it ouy looks awasome
so fake! 1. so many videos are longer than 60sec! 2. a friend of me was number one in likes on youtube and is not in the top 20 list! so what the fuck is that?
Hi Martin. Strictly adhering to the submission technical requirements (I.e. video length limit) wouldn’t be a concern for this sort of contest, nor would number of “likes” on youtube; it wasn’t a technical or popularity contest. What they were looking for was photogenic and interview friendly young candidates who will look good in promo commercials, in-flight magazines, etc & who will appeal to their target demographic: younger people who fly to other countries to hike & explore. Ability to strictly adhere to the submission instructions or generate the most likes to your youtube video wouldn’t be factors.
I hope his girlfriend does not read this but our friend is indeed quite decent looking so the decision is even more baffling …
Congratulations to all the finalist…I’m sure you are all well deserving of this adventure of a lifetime. I am sad my friend Gina Suuper G Stark didn’t make it, but I guess I will have to follow these contestants and live through their experiences. Have a great week…and looking forward to your adventures!
P.S. Paul Mitchell ~ you have one cool attitude about things! Going to follow you now!
This just confirmed another bucket list item for me, no hard feelings it was fun thanks Air NZ and DOC
As a neutral viewer I find the choice rather disappointing and confusing. First of all: only 4 pinterest entries? Seriously? There were so many amazing entries on pinterest but you didn’t seem to take enough time to have a look or read at all of them… And from my point of view it’s silly to have chosen 4 kiwis. I mean, they already have the chance of walking those walks, not like people from another continent. And a kiwi telling the world about how amazing the great walks are won’t be taken halfway as serious as a foreigner talking about the walks…. It’s like Steve Jobs talking about how awesome the new iphone is .
I agree with you Florian. When I first heard about the contest I immediately thought of some of my Social Media friends who I follow because of their travel passion and just great posts and attitude. It would be nice for Air New Zealand to perhaps give us a brief explanation on how they were chosen. Might ease some of the frustration of the many folks that entered. I know it’s a contest, I know it’s “their” rules, but still….
Hi Florian and Paul. Thanks for your comments. We loved going through all of the entries on YouTube and Pinterest from around the world including NZ – they were all so creative and inspiring.
How many entries were there?
Paul, take a look at the bulk of the finalists and you can guess at a couple of the criteria.
@[23637220776:274:Air New Zealand] Ma che spiegazione è????
In comment to Florian`s…. What DOC has done with these walks is amazing you could live right next to these, but as soon as you set off, it makes you feel like your in another world… anybody from all anywhere in the world will be soo lucky to have this chance… from my point of view i think at least one of the winners should be a kiwi… but sadly its not up to me so i say good luck to all the finalists… and i hope you give a damb good report this has been my dream from the very start.. cant wait to follow there steps as soon as i get back to NZ….
Can’t please everyone!!! Btw it’s and Nz comp they have more right to entre than any one…..
I know I’m late into this thread, but as a New Zealander I’d comment that international interest and tourism marketing has made it an order of magnitude more expensive and less practical (eg. introduction of relatively expensive booking systems that often have to be organised many months in advance) for New Zealanders to visit their own best places than it was some time ago. My main disappointment was that none of the nominated New Zealanders won the final competition. Instead, the eventual 4 winners each came from one of NZ’s top 5 visitor sources (UK, USA, Australia, Japan, but skipping China which is #4). I totally appreciate that this is a massive marketing thing for Air NZ, that it’s primarily interested in marketing its international flights, and part of that is by spreading winners as widely as possible through its main target markets where they’ll have the maximum possible global media exposure opportunities. (There’s little commercial point letting more than one person from any country win.) That said, I also hope that Air NZ and the Department of Conservation will some time consider a similar promotion targeted at encouraging kiwis to see their own back yard!
Even though I am not a finalist I am glad that I heard about this competition. It helped me to face my biggest fear (Needles) and I got all my shots updated for the first time in a LONG time LOL! I also have got a swift boot in the bum to get back on a healthy diet and get more active again… 7 years in college really can make a person lazy… so much homework! I’m disappointed to not even get a chance to fight for my dreams but I am still glad I tried.
Hey Lisa, I see you’re in the US: if you want to have a life-changing hiking adventure, take a look at the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail.
It really wasn’t about the hiking (yes I enjoy hiking but my life kind of makes it impossible for me to do much more than day trips). It was more about the opportunity to travel somewhere that I’ve always dreamed of traveling and give me a step up in the chance to do some quality journalism
Now that I didn’t make the finalist round, is there an option to cover my body in Air New Zealand tattoos in exchange for a free trip to Kiwiland?
4 out 20 finalists coming from NZ…
That could be proportional to the number of entries.
Congrats folks! Sorry to everyone who is feeling the same disappointment I am right now!
Now, Air New Zealand, what did you think of my idea to use hikefor to allow the final four lucky hikers to use this hike to raise funds for a charity of your and/or their choosing? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5K6m9BChwk
Hikefor is 100% non-profit, I pay all the hosting and development costs myself, and I’ll upgrade the site as needed in the next couple months to support the Great Walker fundraiser. With all the publicity around this, the hikers could potentially raise a lot of money for a worthwhile non-profit. That would add an amazing whole new dimension to this whole thing!
Grats to all the finalists.
Only 4 Pintrest entries got through. Why did they even waste their time making that an option if they aren’t going to select any? Should have been 10 of each, or made it youtube videos only.
Could be there were far more YouTube than Pinterest entries, or perhaps the video entries were just more compelling.
Please say there’s more to come?? Arrrggggg
I feel your pain, but maybe it’s better to be disappointed now than to be a finalist, go through all the interviews, get our hopes up and then be even more disappointed!
