YouTube is a popular platform to showcase boating, fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities. Tom Fraser talks to one young boatie exploiting its reach to showcase some remarkable adventures.
Groper (hapuka) fishing 20 kilometres off the Canterbury Coast, navigating the rugged coast of southern Fiordland, and circumnavigations of Rakiura (Stewart Island) and even D’Urville Island. Not bad for a young bloke in a 3.6m inflatable dinghy with an 18hp Tohatsu engine on the transom. And you can add to all this his expansive hunting trips for deer, tahr, chamois and other animals game throughout the South Island.
All of this provides rich video material for the fast-growing NZ Wild Adventures YouTube channel, run by Christchurch-based 25-year-old Tasman Denize. While there’s a seemingly endless parade of boating, fishing, diving and hunting material on YouTube and other social media platforms, Tasman’s NZ Wild Adventures channel continues to strike a chord with viewers due to its simplicity, humour and remarkable adventures.
Tasman has become something of an accidental social media star; those very basic videos, filmed on his phone and posted to YouTube a couple of years ago to record memories of trips and adventures with his great mate Arved Hertwich ‘for a bit of a laugh’, are now being viewed anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 times by people across the globe.
“I believe in that saying ‘if you don’t expect things, you won’t be disappointed’ but it was a cool surprise to see the interest in the videos,” he says nonchalantly.
It’s all a very long way from his childhood growing up with his parents and two older sisters on Arapaoa Island (formerly Arapawa Island) in the outer Marlborough Sounds, an isolated but idyllic location.
“It was a perfect place for a young guy like me to grow up,” Tasman recounts.
“We had 150 hectares of land, lots of pigs and goats, wild sheep, a few deer and endless fishing. I went through Correspondence School right up until I was 18 and it was great because, as soon as schoolwork was done, I could wander down to the jetty and use the handline to catch fish!”
Tasman learnt to scuba dive at age 14, and when he turned 16, he received a ‘personal development gift’ from his parents – the 3.6m bright-red inflatable dinghy Red Current, the vessel he still uses today for his YouTube boating adventures.
“This was a perfect gift for me – it gave me so much freedom for fishing, diving, hunting and exploring,” he says.
It originally had a 9hp engine but a couple of years ago Tasman traded it for the 18hp Tohatsu that viewers see today.
Interestingly, Red Current is a reference to Tory Channel – Kura Te Au – near where Tasman grew up. Kura Te Au originates from the red colour of the sea caused by a variety of plankton and the high populations of crustacean krill. According to legend, Kura Te Au is where Kupe killed the giant, mythical octopus Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, causing its blood to run through the channel, which turned the water red. Kurahaupō (waka) and Rangitāne (iwi) give the meaning ‘the red current’ for Kura Te Au.
After finishing Correspondence School, Tasman trained as a joiner and undertook some travel. When he returned to New Zealand in 2021, he began to “really get back into the outdoors” with his friend Arved and it was during that time that the two began filming their adventures with a phone and loading the video clips onto YouTube – their NZ Wild Adventures channel had begun.
“We started undertaking some trips and the decision to do some filming was a really spontaneous one,” he says.
“As I look back, some of our early videos are pretty rough, to be honest, but they bring back wonderful memories and people still seem to like them.”
It didn’t take long for the videos to attract interest and for the channel to take off.
While Arved is currently overseas, Tasman continues the work, complementing his phone with a Digital SLR, GoPro and Insta360 camera, as well as a DJI drone. So, while there’s a bit more technology, it’s still fairly basic and this helps make the channel stand out from so much other content.
It’s the same with the equipment Tasman uses in the field or on the ocean – it’s simple but functional. Importantly, he shows people that they can safely and productively enjoy the outdoors without requiring the latest, greatest and most expensive equipment. Simplicity lies at the heart of his adventures – and the videos too.
“That’s one of the things I really like with the content we produce – it shows you don’t need too much gear to enjoy the outdoors and hopefully this encourages people to simply get out there and enjoy it. At the moment everything I use is stuff I’ve accumulated over the years or are gifts from my parents.”
That simplicity includes regular use of a handline when fishing – even when deep-sea groper fishing off Banks Peninsula. He learnt to use a handline effectively as a child and is clearly highly skilled at using it.
“I’d sneak off down to the jetty after school and use the handline to catch cod, kahawai and snapper – as well as a couple of stingrays and even moki. It’s nice and simple but it is hard on your hands. For deep-sea fishing I built a winding mechanism by screwing some pieces of plywood together. It’s hard work because you’re obviously in deep water but it works well enough.”
Another piece of simple equipment that appears in most videos is Tasman’s trusty meat mincer – much to the obvious amusement of viewers. It travels everywhere and prepares anything from fresh venison to paua. In fact, the cooking components of many videos show viewers what is possible with just a little thought and a few handy ingredients. Despite this, he says he has no great fascination with cooking.
“I love to eat, so I have to cook,” he says with a laugh.
As this issue of Boating New Zealand goes to print, Tasman is likely to be on his latest adventure – a four-week voyage from near Riverton in Southland right around the Fiordland coast to Doubtful Sound. He’ll then get the boat over Wilmot Pass and travel back across Lake Manapouri to complete this significant journey. He’s aiming to explore, fish and hunt the myriad fiords and waterways that make up this remote part of the country.
It goes without saying that these trips require significant planning, and Tasman says that his priority is safety. The engine is serviced regularly, and he carries spare essentials. As well as a Personal Locator Beacon, he always uses a good-quality lifejacket, has a VHF radio and Red Current has a VHF call-sign. He’s also looking at purchasing a smaller auxiliary engine. During last summer’s eight-day circumnavigation of D’Urville Island he was joined for several days by his parents in their large aluminium hard-top.
“I never feel nervous when I’m on my boating adventures, but I’m certainly cautious. There’s been some pretty rough passages, but I always feel safe enough, due in part to Red Current essentially being a rubber life-raft and virtually unsinkable”, he says.
As well as the logistics of food, fuel, potential emergency management, routes and equipment, the other major consideration is weather.
“In the case of the circumnavigation of Rakiura [Stewart Island], there was a four-week period prior to the trip which
I spent planning ahead and watching for a weather window.”
His videos too, show how adept Tasman is at undertaking his own repairs to the engine and boat as and when required. He puts that ‘can do’ attitude down to his formative years.
“Growing up in such an isolated place as Arapaoa Island you needed to be practical and resourceful, and my Dad is particularly good with engines, so I guess I learnt a fair bit from him.
I wouldn’t say I’m that good, but I’ll certainly give things a shot!”
The simplicity of the videos raises the question: would Tasman consider accepting sponsorship, and in doing so, possibly change the quality and messaging of his videos? He’s not actively seeking sponsors but admits he is interested in hearing from any potential sponsor or brand partner.
“It would be nice if the channel became a source of income, but at the moment, it’s nice and small – manageable and fun. There’s a miniscule amount of income from advertising revenue but it’s nowhere near enough to pay for the adventures, and as your readers will be aware, fuel’s not cheap and nor is boat maintenance!”
From a viewer’s perspective, every expedition looks remarkable; from overnight hunts in the South Island high country to multi-day missions on the ocean. But does Tasman have any particularly memorable trips?
“The circumnavigation of Rakiura was pretty neat because it’s still relatively untouched – it’s incredibly scenic and there’s so much to see and do. And, plenty to catch!
“Another epic 10-day trip was back in 2017, when Arved and I were 18. We took the little boat from Arapaoa Island, around the outer Marlborough Sounds and into Pelorus Sound, living off the sea, making campfires, and sleeping under the stars. We then made our way into Kenepuru Sound where we carried the boat and all our gear in two 1.5km trips over the hill from Portage back to Queen Charlotte Sound, to turn the trip into a loop. It was a great start to some of the bigger trips to come in later years.”
Another highlight has been multiple trips in Red Current to Lake Tasman (at the base of the Tasman Glacier, close to Aoraki Mt Cook).
“It’s always spectacular cruising around between the massive icebergs and under the towering glacial walls. The wee boat is perfect to take down to the lake along the small gravel track, and there are several hunting opportunities across the lake.”
There’s a great deal of quirkiness in all the videos Tasman produces, from accessing fishing spots courtesy of a watersports ‘biscuit’, or getting to hunting spots on an electric scooter – even taking an umbrella for shelter from the sun. Much of the filming is shot ‘point of view’ with the GoPro while the filming and editing in general is very basic. But, that’s just part of the channel’s charm. Tasman (and Arved, before he went overseas) doesn’t take himself too seriously and happily highlights any mistakes.
“At the end of the day, I reckon it’s just really nice being in the outdoors and enjoying some solitude, exploring new places, cooking what you catch. Pretty simple really,” he says.
That most basic of messages seems to resonate with the channel’s almost 6,000 subscribers.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many people like the channel, comment positively and interact. And sometimes people have stopped me on the street to say they love what I do, so that’s pretty humbling.”
And, it’s interest that’s only likely to increase as the epic NZ Wild Adventures journey continues.
