In September, Jup Brown and Rick Zwaan were complete strangers. Now, at the end of Mr Brown's two-month mission to run the length of New Zealand, the men are firm friends, because of their shared love of adventure. Marjorie Cook reports.
He actually ran about one and a-half times the length of New Zealand, because he took long detours to visit friends and family during his 67 day challenge.
Life moves quickly for Mr Brown and by the time you are reading this story, he will be an Australian plumber. That's because he can earn three times more money plumbing in Australia than Wanaka, and he needs to earn cash to pay for his adventures.
He departed for his new job helping build a camp to house 500 at Port Hedland, northwest Australia, on Wednesday, but intends to come back to New Zealand to present a cheque for about $20,000 to the Stroke Foundation before Christmas.
The adventurer has a simple motto: "Don't think about it. Just have fun."
That was what convinced Thames student Rick Zwaan (18) to join his mission, despite never having met Mr Brown before and being 20 years his junior.
"I asked what his philosophy was at the start and he said, 'Just have fun'," Mr Zwaan said this week.
Mr Brown is happily peripatetic - he has been travelling for 20 years, moonlighting as a Japanese translator and ski and snowboard course designer, among other things - and Mr Zwaan is cut from the same cloth.
Since leaving Northcote College at the end of 2010, he has been actively seeking adventures before beginning his university studies in politics and environmental science in Wellington next year.
In April and May he was part of the Pangaea Young Explorers expedition to the magnetic North Pole in the Canadian Arctic region, exploring climate change.
"That was so amazing. It was such a cool experience. There were seven young explorers out on the ice for about two weeks, drawing sleds over the Arctic Ocean. Basically, we lived out on the ice. We would do scientific measurements to see how dense the snow and ice was," Mr Zwaan said.
Mr Zwaan also did a 15-week road trip around New Zealand earlier this year as one of 10 young people on the ReGeneration Roadtrip (the ReGeneration project promotes active citizenship, generosity, volunteering, social enterprise and innovation).
He thought another road trip with Mr Brown would be "an awesome way to fill in the rest of an interesting gap year and spend a bit of time with an interesting guy".
While others joined the support crew for several days at a time, Mr Zwaan was Mr Brown's chief fixer, there for all but two days, when he attended his grandfather's funeral in Auckland.
The keen film-maker took lots of footage and photos and now plans to make a documentary about the road trip for release early next year.
The men met in Dunedin after a Dunedin contact, Iain Frengley, of Spatial Media, suggested Mr Zwaan look at Mr Brown's mission.
"I said you don't have to be there the whole time. I didn't expect him to drive ... but he said he would be there and that instantly made the whole thing happen," Mr Brown said.
As their quest continued, they discovered they shared similar moods. When one felt like a coffee, wanted to do nothing or felt off-colour, the other did, too.
They were so in tune, Mr Brown said he didn't have to ask for anything - things just got done.
Nothing was micro-managed, because neither man operated that way.
"It just worked. Some days, we didn't have accommodation. He would get on the phone. Having someone with a good manner with people helped, as well." If Mr Zwaan got frustrated, it was because Mr Brown was not good at introducing himself on the phone.
"You wouldn't tell people what you were doing," he accused Mr Brown, who nods in agreement.
There was never a moment when Mr Brown - who started long-distance running in 2007 - felt like giving up. However, he "lost the plot" a little at the end of the second week, between Dunedin and Palmerston, as he struggled with strong muscle pains in his left leg.
Mr Zwaan and fellow supporter Lisa Jackson, of Wanaka, were in the van and knew they had to keep him going so he could run again the next day, but an upset Mr Brown told them to go away.
He found them waiting 10km up the road and by then had calmed down and was appreciative when they took over and did everything that night so all he had to do was eat and sleep.
Palmerston proved to be the turning point for Mr Brown.
"The next day, he was good as," Mr Zwaan said.
"The next day, it just got better and better," Mr Brown agreed.
If there were people to see, Mr Brown eschewed State Highway 1 and took other roads, which is why he started on Stewart Island, ran through Central Otago and diverted to Nelson.
He also chose to drive to Cape Reinga from Auckland and then run back to the city, so he could finish with people.
One of his diversions went a little awry. When the team reached Picton, Mr Brown decided to honour his new Australian employer with a visit.
"He said he would be in Nelson to see the Rugby World Cup game so I said, 'OK, I will run over and see you.' And when I got there, he wasn't there," Mr Brown said.
However, the Nelson branch of the Stroke Foundation came to the rescue, making the extra kilometres worth it, he said.
Mr Brown says without Mr Zwaan, he could not have completed the mission.
"He made it happen and I can't thank him enough. He's 18 and he's a very mature, chilled out young man with a good head on his shoulders." Mr Brown also received support from the Otago branch of the foundation and field officer Judith Hislop.
He paid tribute to the many stroke survivors and supporters who he said worked hard and often against the odds to improve their lifestyles.
Included in this group are his Dunedin friend Nick Chisholm, who has inspired Mr Brown with his battle with locked-in syndrome since 2000; Mr Brown's father, Ron Brown, of Wanaka, who is recovering well from a stroke suffered earlier this year; Toni Crowther (38), of Auckland, who has completed several harbour swims using just one arm and one leg; and Thonia Hartdegen, of Auckland.
They were among about 25 people who crossed the finish line in Auckland on November 6 with Mr Brown to be welcomed by up to 100 supporters.
Now the adventure is over, Mr Brown repeats his motto to those who marvel and say: "I could never ... ".
"Don't think about it. Just have fun. It is cool to get a few mates together and take a trip somewhere and do something different. You can always go home if you don't like it.
"People doubt themselves before they even do things. They put something in their minds and then that's as if that is as much as they will let themselves do. I had people who declared they could only run 5km and would never be able to run 20km. I would take them for a run, talk away and then say, 'You've done pretty well. You've just done 17km.' And then I would ask them, "Just run 3km and then you can go home'," Mr Brown said.
• Jup Brown is still collecting pledges and donations, until November 30. They can be made by texting stroke to 5339 and cost $3.
Road runner
• What: Running the length of New Zealand.
• Why: To raise funds and awareness for the New Zealand Stroke Foundation.
• Runner: Jup Brown (38), Wanaka plumber.
• Support crew: Rick Zwaan (18), Thames student.
• Total distance covered: 2930km (averaging about 48km a day for 67 days).
• From: Stewart Island to Auckland, via Cape Reinga.
• Amount raised: $18,500 so far.
• Goal: $20,000 by November 30.
• Best part of the road: For Jup - Queen Charlotte Dr, between Picton and Havelock. "And Ninety Mile Beach was pretty cool, too." For Rick - Stewart Island. " It was awesome."
• Worst part: For Jup - the Canterbury Plains: "It was just flat. There was nothing to count or pass." For Rick - the North Island: "I didn't like the driving but the extra traffic was good for Jup."
