On the road with Amanda Luxon

Amanda Luxon has joined RNZ's Summer Times for a roadie to Waiheke Island to share her passions, what she's been reading, and pick some of her favourite tunes.

Much has been made of her biceps, but what do we really know about the prime minister's wife? She's not the politician in family, Amanda Luxon told Summer Times.

She leaves that "to the other person", she says.

Luxon, 55, has been married to "the love of her life" Prime Minister Christopher Luxon since they met in Christchurch in 1994.

Luxon, herself was born and bred in Christchurch, got her first experience of working life was in a local grocery shop, she says.

"I went to the local state school, Riccarton High School. My parents worked in grocery stores, before the days down there of the big Countdowns.

"I grew up delivering groceries up into the hills, cutting the ham, pumping the petrol, all of those kind of things."

She went on to study education at university, her first placement was at the tiny settlement of Tinwald.

"It was a beautiful little school. It had an amazing headmaster, and just a real diverse group of children that came through there."

When she wasn't delivering groceries, ballet was her great passion.

"I danced with the Southern Ballet Company. So, I spent a lot of my teenage years with that, I danced five days a week.

"But I was never going to be a professional ballet dancer, my body was just never quite designed to do that."

Dance was more regimented when she was growing up, she says.

"In my day, there was tap, classical ballet, Highland and jazz, very segmented. And I love the fact that anybody can get involved with all sorts of dance today, and it's amazing.

"It doesn't matter what body you are, it doesn't matter you can really enjoy that. And I think that's the great gift that modern society has brought to dance."

Her husband shares her love of dance.

"He is a good dancer. He and I went to ballroom dancing lessons in our dating years. And I was the ballet dancer, so I thought I had pretty good rhythm.

"But our dancing instructor said, 'Christopher you have such good rhythm'. He actually is one of those people that can pick up any ball or any bat, and basically is semi-accomplished at it to start with. It's just frustrating sometimes!"

The Luxon's children, Olivia and William, now in their early 20s, spent much of their childhood overseas as Christopher embarked on a corporate career, and the experience has shaped them, she says.

"I think it's been really, really crucial to them in that we have moved between so many different cultures and so many environments that they don't see things in the way that people who have perhaps stayed in one place the whole time, they see the world as much more of one unit.

"They don't distinguish between necessarily ethnicity or religion or things like that. They're very global children."

Since Christopher became prime minister, her role has been to support his work, putting her own projects on hold, she says.

"I'm basically here to do what I can do to help support Christopher, do what he does. We made that decision together, and it's a journey and a phase of our lives, so I'm here to do that."

She remains involved in charitable work, however, particularly focused on fighting child trafficking.

"We've travelled quite extensively into Thailand, Nepal, Uganda, a lot of those countries just working on anti-trafficking messages and with organisations that are working in that space.

"I just believe if we can work against the oppression of women and raise women up and give them skills and means, then they're actually the ones that can change lives and communities."

She also loves to get stuck into some DIY.

"I'm a very big DIY girl, yesterday I did actually text our security guys to say, if you see me on the grass frothing at the mouth, then call 111, because I'm going to do some electrical work in the backyard. So, I fix, I paint, I plaster, I landscape, I do everything."

She is on record as saying while Christopher is the extrovert, she is an introvert. And she often goes unrecognised, she says, spending a lot of her time in "running gear with a ponytail and no make-up".

Once while cleaning out the PM's Wellington digs, a passer-by made her a job offer.

"I was bringing all the stuff down to throw it into the back of the car, the vacuum, the mops and a woman walks past me as I keep piling stuff in.

"She turned around, and came up and said 'Excuse me' - this is right across from parliament - and she said to me, 'I've got an apartment just around the road, and I was wondering if you'd like another cleaning job?'

"I laughed, and I said to her, 'Thank you so much for asking, but actually, I'm kind of full at the moment'."

Amanda Luxon's travelling companions

Melinda Gates: "A phenomenal woman."

Allie Hewson: (wife of U2 frontman Bono) "I love them because, 40 years they've been together and you listen to interviews, and you go, you just love each other, and respect each other so much after 40 years and four children."

The roadie playlist

'Think I'm in love with You' - Chris Stapleton and Dua Lipa.

'Bloodstream' - Ed Sheeran

'Viva la Vida' - Coldplay "A great running song. In fact, I ran the Chicago Marathon to this one."