The Great NZ Road Trip: Nine Questions With... Justine Ross

Editor at large Shayne Currie is on a two-week road trip, to gauge the mood of the nation and meet everyday and notable Kiwis making a difference in their communities and wider world. In today’s main feature, one of our greatest Kiwis, Sir Grahame Sydney, talks art, politics and tourism. Today’s Nine Questions With... column is with businesswoman, entrepreneur and Lake Hāwea Station owner Justine Ross (below). Meanwhile, in the daily road trip diary, the VW ID.5 takes on one of NZ’s most frightening roads.

What’s the one word to sum up your mood right now?

Misanthropical.

What do you wish people knew about where you live?

The epic Te Araroa trail comes from Cape Reinga in the north, past our front gate [at Lake Hāwea Station] on a gnarly descent toward Bluff in the deep south.

What are your passions?

Climate advocacy, hiking, books, entrepreneurial endeavour, biophilia, travelling.

Which New Zealander (alive or dead) do you most admire – and why?

David Lange - because a principle is not a principle until you stand by it.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Family, off-grid in nature

What is your greatest fear?

Loss - of people, plants, animals, habitat, home…

What is it that you most dislike?

Bigotry

What is on your bucket list?

A day of rest

What do you hope/think NZ will look like in 10 years?

A mosaic of native forest and regenerative farmland with green spaces in urban centres and co-work spaces where collaboration, inclusiveness and resource sharing are foundational. And lots of well-conceived fossil fuel-free infrastructure.

Justine Ross co-founded Kiwi vodka brand 42 Below but has now left the city behind for life on the high-country Lake Hāwea Station.