12 Weepu tackles new role: Piri Weepu enjoys a taste of New Zealand.

Piri Weepu enjoys a taste of New Zealand in the new Maori TV series Piri’s Tiki Tour. Peter Eley reports.

Former All Black Piri Weepu has swapped his rugby boots for sturdier footwear — tramping boots.

Weepu is hosting Maori TV’s new outdoors show Piri’s Tiki Tour, where he travels around Aotearoa hunting, fishing, foraging and diving.

At the end of each show, Weepu and his mates cook and eat the fruits of their labour, top quality New Zealand kai such as crayfish, kina, wild pork, trout and even wild ram and weka from the Chathams.

Weepu played for the All Blacks 72 times in a long and successful career but always looked to hunting, particularly for wild pigs, and fishing to give him time away from the pressures of professional sport.

And he says his new show has given him the opportunity to explore some of the country’s beautiful areas. He was particularly taken with the upper Tongariro River in the Central North Island.

He rafted in to a remote spot and caught his first ever trout after being introduced to fly fishing. “That was a pretty special day in a special place,” he says.

Weepu says that Kiwis are spoiled for choice by the outdoor opportunities this country still offers. “We can enjoy these beautiful places and get a break from the worries of work the next day.”

As well as his TV commitments, work for Weepu these days is spending more time with his four children, two boys and two girls all aged under eight, and some assistant coaching.

He still has strong ties to rugby and says he is grateful for the opportunities the game gave him.

Today, he looks very much the outdoorsman in publicity shots for his show, dressed in camouflage gear and with a full beard. “It’s a bit bushy,” he says. And he looks pretty solid, too. In his playing days, standing 175cm tall, he weighed in at 96kg.

“I’ve put on a bit since then,” he says.

Too much wild pork perhaps? “Yeah, and I’m enjoying it.”