Coast New Zealand

The Otago Coast is a formidable place to live. Cold winds and waves roll in from Antarctica battering the wildlife, flora and people - so much so that they are all shaped by their environment, often bending, but seldom broken. On this journey Neil visits the Royal Albatross as they return home from their eternal wanderings and meet their unofficial godfather. Riria Hotere discovers that while New Zealand's human story is brief, every once and a while a secret to its past is unearthed. Geologist Hamish Campbell realises there is nothing too solid about the planet we live on as he finds out erosion is causing our heritage to slip into the ocean. Marine Archaeologist Matt Carter goes diving and finds a unique recycling project dating from the glory days of New Zealand's biggest shipping company. And Neil find out about the tragic history of past seafaring days along the Catlins coast where the wild weather often forced captains to play a game of Russian roulette with their lives and that of their crews.

New Zealand's largest city is also the most coastal city in the country. It has hundreds of kilometres of coastlines and its many bays, inlets and creeks mean that most Aucklander's live within 5km of the sea. But few cities in the world also have a stronger claim to the title 'City of Volcanoes'. Over 50 have erupted within 20km of the central city. On this journey Neil steps onto the site of Auckland's biggest volcanic eruption and finds an archaeologist's dream. Could this be New Zealand's very own Pompeii? Geologist Hamish Campbell is digging in to investigate a project that baffled some of the world's smartest engineers and proves too many cooks, or in this case, experts, spoil the broth. Kamikaze surfers, Big Brother and the mice that roared. We find out how New Zealand's battle to become nuclear-free gripped the nation and rippled around the world. Marine biologist Jacky Guerts discovers a battle blooming under Auckland's Waitemata Harbour after unwanted marine hitchhikers have found their way across the ocean on boat hulls. And Neil goes paddling on the beach, Piha style.

They say to know the top of the South Island is to know New Zealand. The region's warm, sandy seaboard is more typical of the North Island while the maze of hills and mountains, which are split by the Alpine Fault, belong unmistakably to the South Island. You could say it's where the North meets the South. On tonight's fascinating journey, Neil uncovers an invasion that ruffled more than a few feathers in the Abel Tasman National Park. He also discovers the incredible story of one woman's vision to return the park back to how it sounded before the arrival of mankind. Marine archaeologist Matt Carter goes in search of a disaster from the Cold War era in the magnificent Queen Charlotte Sound. We meet a hippy invader and learn more about a tumultuous chapter in local history that divided a community in the 1970s. We go in search of reasons why whales strand themselves on the treacherous, sandy sickle of Farewell Spit, and discover why people feel such an affinity with these mysterious leviathans. And Neil treads the timbers of an ancient ship to discover its many stories from European history to New Zealand's colonial past.