its cultures that she confesses she knew relatively little about from her high school days in Timaru or living in New Zealand, or even as a reporter curious about the world.
‘I just had no idea,’ she says, noting how at school she’d get taught a lot about things like Henry VIII ‘which was never going to help me’ but little about the rich history elsewhere. ‘We don’t learn about the Arab world necessarily, so I’ve now learned so much about the countries around here, like Oman and Saudi Arabia where there’s so much going on and it’s such a pivotal time. It’s been so eye-opening, just good for understanding a different perspective, because I had no idea about Muslim beliefs or anything like that.’
Ashleigh loves to travel, and before Covid lockdown enjoyed exploring the region, from diving in the Red Sea to visiting places like Palestine and seeing the context of things on the ground. ‘Travelling around this region is hugely interesting. It ’s the basis of civilisation, basically.
It ’s where humankind has come from, yet it ’s this really undervalued region.’
She also recommends delving behind the glitzy hotels, Ferrari rentals, and luxury shopping of Dubai to explore the traditional culture of her city. ‘You can go down to the souks and there’s this whole other side to Dubai, where it’s about Emirati culture,’ she says. ‘A lot of people just have this opinion of Dubai thinking it’s really superficial, and there’s no culture – but there’s a huge amount of culture, and a huge amount of different cultures.’
While the global pandemic has provided plenty of challenges for Ashleigh and her colleagues, it was events back home in Aotearoa that really tested her last year, and led to what she calls ‘some of the most meaningful reporting I’ve ever done’.
On 15 March (2019), Ashleigh woke to ‘heaps of texts’ from friends. ‘The first one I read was “shooting in Christchurch, check on your family”, and I was like “EXCUSE ME??!!”. I flew into a tizz trying to find out what was happening. It was all so crazy.’ Ashleigh immediately asked her bosses if she could work on the story, then reached out to her contacts back home and ended up live-blogging the unfolding situation for The National ’s readers all day.
Ashleigh felt a strong connection despite being 14,000 kilometres away. She wasn’t alone. The horrifying attack on
Muslims at prayer in what was considered a peaceful nation reverberated throughout the Islamic world. ‘It was massive news here,’ says Ashleigh. ‘You could actively sense people were really troubled about it.’
Later that evening in Dubai, about 4 am in New Zealand, Ashleigh ended up on the phone with Janna Ezat, who’d moved with her family to New Zealand from UAE more than 20 years ago. Janna’s son Hussein Al-Umari was missing after attending Friday prayers at the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton. Janna couldn’t sleep, and just wanted someone to talk to. ‘She just cried the whole time, and I tried to stay on the phone and just let her cry,’ recalls Ashleigh. ‘I continued to work on stories to do with the mosque attacks for months afterwards; I’m still working on them now. And those families have become friends.’
In June of the same year, Ashleigh returned home to run the Christchurch Marathon in memory of those who’d died, and in support of their families. She wore an outfit that included artwork designed by Janna. An Arabic blessing on the front, and the names of all 51 people who died on the back underneath the words ‘peace and love’ in Arabic. Janna’s son Hussein was among the names. He’d died trying to protect others, running towards the shooter.
dedicated time each week on a bike that I realised just how much more you see, and how much easier it is to experience your surrounds. There is a tranquility and sense of intimacy with nature that you simply don’t get driving the same route.
Which is why my curiosity was piqued when I came across Pacific Cycle Tours and their various biking tours around the South Island. Sitting down with owners Brett Green and Judy Jamieson-Green, it was easy to get caught up in their enthusiasm for our backyard and experiencing it from the saddle of a bike.
Judy is a born and bred Cantabrian, citing the Canterbury Plains and Port Hills as her childhood playground, while Brett grew up in Colorado with a love of skiing, camping, hiking and fishing. Their stories collided at the University of Canterbury where they met, fell in love and subsequently decided to explore the world together.
Several years later they settled in Sydney, where they set their love for the great outdoors to the side for successful corporate careers – Brett in financial services and Judy in book publishing. Roles the couple loved until they realised they wanted to offer their two young daughters the outdoor memories they had both enjoyed growing up.
‘Quality of life is essentially what brought us back to New Zealand,’ shares Judy. With a broad range of skills between them they made the decision to buy a business and return to Judy’s hometown of Christchurch.
‘The opportunity to buy Pacific Cycle Tours happened organically,’ explains Brett. ‘It came about through word of mouth and the fact it was centred around nature and the outdoors was a huge positive. We love tourism, and as it is typically quite seasonal it offered the opportunity for the work-life balance we were seeking.’
For over 20 years the previous owners had hosted a steady stream of European tourists. ‘We wanted to maintain our excellent relationships with the European wholesalers, but also had plans to expand into the Australian, American and domestic markets,’ explains Judy.
With COVID-19 eliminating the international tourism market, Brett and Judy have relished getting to know the domestic market and have seen bikers from all over the country jump on board with their tours. ‘Where we vary from others is that we don’t focus on one trail only – rather guests get a taste of the best of several different trails in the South Island.’
Of particular interest to the local market has been the 10-day South Island e-bike tour. ‘It is a great chance to see our backyard in a completely new way,’ shares Brett. ‘And is a wonderful equaliser, as you don’t have to go into the trail with a lot of bike fitness.’
With the tour starting and finishing in Christchurch,