Easter Monday for Monday 21 April 2025

08:15 Kiwis in construction vehicles set new world record! 

Ticket sales were looking good ahead of the final Wheels at Wanaka and because this year marks 100 years of Caterpillar vehicles, the plan was to set a world record attempt for the most Caterpillar machines in a parade.

Paddy speaks to an actual world record holder! 

08:30 Life on Easter Island with Marc Shields

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is a small island south of Chile, home to about 8,600 people.

It's known for the huge historic statues, called Moai, which are dotted around the island. Marc Shields hails from West Auckland but is a long-term resident of Rapa Nui, with his wife and three children. Marc catches Paddy up on what life is like there in 2025.

08:35 Hut bagging with Benjamin Pigott 

Intrepid backcountry explorer Benjamin Piggott is a man on a mission. He aims to visit every DOC hut in the country. So far, he's been to 548 and has around 500 more to go. 

Benjamin visited his first huts in the Tararua Ranges in his youth. Now in his late twenties, Benjamin is a Department of Conservation asset inspector, and gets paid to maintain key DOC infrastructure. This means he's able to visit huts and ensure they're in good condition for fellow trampers around New Zealand.

In addition to his own hut bagging mission, Benjamin wants to inspire others to explore the great outdoors. 

08:45 Hot cross bun expert Tom Hishan

Easter is a time of many traditions and treats, and one of the most beloved is the Hot Cross Bun. The art of a good bun is a fine one, and modern additions like chocolate can be very controversial.

Tom Hishan is an expert in the field - he's the co-founder of Auckland's Daily Bread bakery which won the country's supreme hot cross bun award three years in a row.

08:50 Church leader on what Easter means in 2025    

While Easter weekend is a time of rest for some, it's the busiest weekend of the year for the churchgoers among us. To hear what's been happening throughout the weekend and what significance it has in 2025, Paddy catches up with the Assistant Bishop of the Wellington Anglican Church, Anashuya Fletcher.

09:10 Ed Gamble on everyday comedy: 'One man's dreary is another man's adventurous'

Ed Gamble will be a familiar name to many from his regular appearances on TV shows like Taskmaster, Would I Lie to You, and The Great Celebrity Bake off.

You might also know him from chart-topping podcast Off Menu, co-hosted with fellow comedian James Acaster. The pair have on a different celebrity guest for each episode where they craft their dream restaurant menu. On top of this busy schedule, the English comedian has been on tour.

New Zealand is the second-to-last stop, and Ed speaks to Paddy ahead of his arrival.

Ed Gamble performs Hot Diggity Dog! on 11 June in Wellington and 13 June in Auckland for the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. 

09:30 Jennifer Andrewes on her Parkinson's pilgrimages 

Jennifer Andrewes turned to European pilgrimages after receiving a lifechanging diagnosis of early onset Parkinson's.

A long-term connection to France drew her to those parts of the traditional Camino trails, walking a collective 1,800kms in two stints. A Will and A Way is a newly released book recounting the experience and her motivation to keep walking for as long as she can. She speaks with Paddy.

10:10 Playing Favourites with journalist Ali Mau

Ali Mau is an award-winning journalist who's known for her work bringing the Me Too movement to Aotearoa, as well as decades of other important stories.

She also graced our screens on the 6 o'clock news, Breakfast, Seven Sharp and Fair Go. Most recently, she released her confronting memoir called No Words For This, which recounts stories of abuse within her family as well as some of the harsh realities of her career in media.

She joins Paddy for a round of Playing Favourites - a chance to find out who Ali Mau is outside of this important mahi.

10:45 How technology can get young people reading

Just under 40 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said they don’t like reading according to a new annual survey. 

The Read NZ National Reading Survey 2025 also revealed that, unsurprisingly, younger people are more likely to engage with e-books and audiobooks than any other age, with algorithmic recommendations from Instagram and BookTok coming in useful.   

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura CEO Juliet Blythe says the organisation is committed to helping young people engage with reading in non-traditional ways and joins Paddy to explain how - plus what else the survey unveiled about our literary habits.

11:10 The White House has embraced cryptocurrency, but at what cost? 

Since being re-elected, the US President's Administration has begun reshaping the murky and unregulated world of cryptocurrency.

Donald Trump has promised to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet", has launched a meme coin, and signed executive orders - including one disbanding a Department of Justice team set up to investigate cryptocurrency crime.

Molly White runs website Web3 is Going Just Great where she aims to educate non-experts of the scams, dangers, and pitfalls cryptocurrency. She speaks to Paddy. 

11:35 Comedian Samantha Hannah on writing new material as a new mum 

Being a new parent is tough. In the weeks following the birth of your child, could you have performed multiple stand-up comedy shows and made a weekly comedy podcast documenting new motherhood?

Scottish Wellington-based comic Samantha Hannah is doing all those things.

She joins Paddy to discuss whether being in the trenches of new parenthood and the customary middle-of-the-night wakeups and sleep depravity are a great combination for writing jokes.

11:45 Autumn gardening with Jules Matthews

Expert gardener Jules Matthews joins Paddy to talk through her top tips for Autumn, from keeping your soil healthy, to the importance of mulching, to the best things to be planting this time of year. Jules Matthews is a director at Mangaroa Farms in Upper Hutt, which is based around regenerative practices.

Paddy's g-funk playlist

• Waiwhai - Relax (theme music) 
• Mark Williams - House for Sale
• Tina Cross - You Can Do It
• Collision - You Can Dance
• Prince Tui Teka - Heed the Call

Books featured on this show 

• A Will and a Way 
• By Jennifer Andrewews
• Parallel Lives
• 9780473739065

 

• No Words 
• By Ali Mau 
• Harper Collins 
• 9781775542537