Kiwi Yarns

Today’s guest is a very special young woman called Lizzie McKay who works at Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand.Lizzie is about to embark on "Sweatember" which is all about challenging Kiwis to commit to any sweaty activity throughout the month of September to get fit and raise money for New Zealanders living with cystic fibrosis.Lizzie herself has been living with CF since she was born, she's just celebrated her 30th birthday, and has an epic attitude towards life. A lovely chat with a lovely gal!To join SWEATEMBER, go here: https://sweatember.org.nz/To sign the Petition of Carmen Shanks: Publicly fund Trikafta medication for people in New Zealand with Cystic Fibrosis: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_99952/petition-of-carmen-shanks-publicly-fund-trikafta-medication 

Today’s guest is world champion mixed martial artist Michelle Montague.An amazing story about how she literally discovered MMA on YouTube - and is now traveling the world representing her country!Michelle grew up on a farm in Matamata, has played rugby since she was four and almost became a police officer.A really fascinating chat about the strength, discipline and training it takes to be a world champion fighter.

This episode is a bit different. It is still a great New Zealander, there’s no two ways about that. Today’s guest is Dr Nikki Turner, director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre, an academic General Practitioner and an Associate Professor in the Division of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Auckland. Dr Nikki Turner is here to talk about the COVID Vaccine.I, like many, have become extremely concerned at the level of misinformation, rumours, lies, hearsay - you catch my drift - about Covid and in particular, around the vaccine rollout. I’m concerned and scared that scientists and experts aren’t being listened to, but your Mum’s cousin’s Aunt on Facebook is, or the Yoga influencer on Instagram has miraculously overnight become more qualified than an epidemiologist. We are, without doubt, in a terribly uncertain and scary time, but that should be all the more reason to listen to the advice of people whose job it is to keep us healthy, keep us safe. I wanted to use my platform in a way that gives you one of these people, gives you the answers, gives you clarity and certainty. God knows that is what we all need right now.

Matt Brown is the man behind the powerful and vital movement, She Is Not Your Rehab. He's just released a book of the same name. Matt openly shares his own experiences of family violence and childhood sexual abuse in the book, but also in public talks and at his world famous barbershop, My Fathers Barbers in Christchurch.Matt is playing a major role in trying to stop the cycle of domestic violence here in New Zealand. She Is Not Your Rehab is an opportunity for men to break away from their own pain and shame in a safe place.She Is Not Your Rehab by Matt Brown with Sarah Brown, published by Penguin Random House NZ, is out now.

Today’s guest is one of my favourite Kiwi actors, and I think it would be fair to say anyone around my age who grew up watching Shortland Street every night in the 90s with Claire Chitham playing the wonderful Waverley would have a similar fondness! The loveable actress talks how she gets into her roles, the cool thing she did when she turned 40, and how she's helping others, after years of battling Crohn's Disease. She's a stunning human!

Today’s guest is one of the most remarkable athletes we have here in New Zealand. If I were to list or read out Nathan Fa’avae’s achievements over the years, we would actually run out of time to speak to him!In short, he’s one of the greatest endurance athletes in the world. And when I say endurance, I mean races that last for DAYS.Nathan and his teammates have won six Adventure Racing World Champion titles, and he's been involved in so many other amazing races all around the world.Amazingly, his passion for the outdoors and long-distance events came while he was a teenager at a camp for at-risk youth. A truly awesome story.

A cool, funny, smart, awesome woman who talks money/finance AND makes it relatable AND interesting AND easy to understand.She is Frances Cook and she's the host of the podcast, Cooking the Books, a columnist for the NZ Herald and the author of Tales From A Financial Hot Mess.She is awesome.Thank you Frances for all the valuable bits of advice I got from this!

Today’s guest is a lycra legend! A five-time Olympian, a World and Commonwealth Games Champion and someone who was at the top of both track and road cycling for 20 years.Greg Henderson has achieved success on his bike all over the world - but since retiring from professional cycling, he still can’t quite keep away - now devoting his time to make other awesome cyclists like him as Coach Hendy.Greg tells some amazing yarns about what it's like to be in the Tour de France - and it makes me glad I sit and watch on the television!

Today's guest is quite simply, a national treasure.Tammy Wells is someone we all feel like we have a connection with, she is pretty much part of our furniture...and of course the Briscoes furniture too.Tammy is the woman who, with a big warm smile, delights us with that welcome news that Briscoes is indeed having a sale.She's been the Briscoes Lady for a remarkable 32 years - and still loves every minute of it.Oh how delightful this yarn is!

Today’s guest Guy Williams - has been part of the New Zealand comedy furniture for a fair whack - even though he's only 33. The Billy T Award winning comedian has achieved a lot in this career (although he says achieving a lot could also be defined as failing a lot haha), across the stage, on the tele and on the radio.It's a full noise episode, where he takes the piss out of my questions and at times hijacks some parts of it - but you wouldn't have it any other way with Guy!