educate, inspire & connect
Ensuring stories are not lost.
Podcasts can educate, inspire and connect.
Our Journeys to Home podcast series is directly linked to our community aspirations for kotahitanga, recognising that connecting people to place is essential to growing our understanding of the world around us.
Part One of podcast series dives back into the hours of footage that was captured as part of the process of completing the feature length documentary ‘Tirohia Karioi’ in 2025. With much of that footage being of immense value yet unable to make it into the final 90-minute film, the podcast series ensures the kōrero from these interviews is not lost – remaining an accessible and enduring resource for the whole community to enjoy.
"Connecting people to place is essential to understanding the world around us"
mahuru robb
The Toreparu Wetland.
In this episode of ‘Journeys to Home’, we travel to the Toreparu Wetland with researcher Mahuru Robb, exploring the rich ecological and cultural significance of this remarkable landscape.
Toreparu is more than a wetland. It is a living ecosystem that filters water, provides habitat for native species and has long been a place of food, resources and connection for the people of the area.
Mahuru shares her work exploring the health of the wetland through both science and mātauranga Māori, showing how these different ways of understanding can work together to build a deeper picture of place.
Her research with Ngāti Whakamarurangi has shown how cultural knowledge can reveal aspects of a wetland’s history, health and significance that conventional scientific measurements alone may not capture.
Through Mahuru’s story, we discover a landscape shaped by generations of knowledge and experience.
Taruke thomson & dr oliver mcleod
The Significance of Names.
dr oliver mcleod
Science & Mātauranga Māori - Two Ways of Knowing.
In this episode of Journeys to Home, Dr Oliver McLeod discusses his scientific work and his understanding of mātauranga Māori, exploring two different but complementary ways of understanding our world.
Drawing on his experience as a scientist, Oliver reflects on the value of scientific knowledge alongside the knowledge, observations and relationships with the environment that are held within mātauranga Māori.
Rather than seeing these approaches as oppositional, Oliver considers how they can sit alongside one another — bringing different perspectives, questions and insights to our understanding of the places we live and the ecosystems we are part of.
His story explores what it means to approach the world with both scientific curiosity and a deeper sense of connection, responsibility and place.
Tim Newton
Re-Wilding Karioi Maunga.
In this episode of Journeys to Home, we meet Tim Newton from Te Rekereke Taiao Trust and hear the story of how he came to make his home on the slopes of Karioi Maunga.
Tim talks about the journey that brought him to Karioi, the work his family are undertaking on their land, and their vision for restoring the maunga.
From protecting and regenerating native vegetation to controlling introduced predators and creating habitat for native species, the work is part of a wider effort to reconnect the landscape with its natural ecology.
For Tim and his family, re-wilding isn’t simply about conservation. It is about learning to live with the land, understanding its history and ecology, and becoming part of its future.
