When the lockdown going got tough, Sam Neill’s social media updates sprinkled funny sunny moments into our days.
Self-isolation proved to be fertile ground for Sam’s Instagram account @SamNeillTheProp and Twitter @TwoPaddocks where he entertained himself and people around the world with “Cinema Quarantino” films with guest stars such as Hugo Weaving.
After filming Jurassic World: Dominion in the UK last year, he’s back home on his farm in New Zealand’s Central Otago where he recently finished the harvest for his winery, Two Paddocks.
My first holiday memory…
Is having our tent blown away in the Southern Alps on a family fishing expedition. It was 3am in the morning, we slept in the van and found it the next day up a tree. My dad could catch fish, but he was crap with tents.
I got my first passport…
In 1956 when we returned to New Zealand. I’m not sure whether it was British or New Zealand, but I was entitled to both.
The most interesting person I’ve met on a plane was…
Jeffrey Archer. He was the only other person in business and I had been in an adaptation of one of his books (Kane and Abel). I was hoping he wouldn’t recognise me and was ducking behind the seat.
But he did and plonked himself down beside me for what would be a three-hour journey. He turned out to be the most delightful company, full of gossip and some of the funniest stories I’ve ever heard.
The thing about travel I missed during Covid is…
There are some obscure parts of the world I very much want to experience. Now I’m wondering when and if.
The souvenir I always buy is…
A fridge magnet. The daggier the better. I love them.
Weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten…
I was once working in China and a banquet was put on in my honour. My host made it clear the principal dish of about 30 was very special so it was apparent to me there would be loss of face if I didn’t eat it. It was a stew of tortoise.
Actually, it didn’t taste too bad but who on earth wants to eat a poor old tortoise? Certainly not me. I did, though. Manners.
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Sam Neill, Miro museum, Barcelona. Picture: Supplied
The worst thing that’s happened to me travelling…
Was landing once in India. We nearly hit another plane that was crossing the runway and we had to roar back up into the sky. I spent the next 20 minutes before we landed comforting my family that this was perfectly routine. I lied. I think this is the closest any of us has come to death.
My most memorable flight experience…
Prior to 9/11 I used to be routinely invited into the cockpit to talk to the pilots, often when landing. Once in a Qantas plane we were approaching Wellington airport on a freakishly calm day with reflections on Cook Strait. I said, “Wow, look at that – I bet you hardly ever see that. Dead calm.” The captain replied, “Mate, we like a bit of a head wind in Wellington. Very f***ing short runway.”
How many countries have I visited?…
I lost count at 50 something. And those were just the ones I’d worked in.
The place that didn’t live up to expectations…
Call me jaded, but there are lots. Tourism doesn’t do any place much in the way of favours. My advice: try to find places tourists don’t go to en masse.
Sam Neill and Bryan Brown in Venice, Italy.
The advice I’d give to young travellers is…
Learn some of the language before you go. Don’t be a boofhead, and try to avoid moving in herds.
The best secret I stumbled across while travelling is…
Certain islands in the Pacific. I might tell you, but only just before I die. They’re my secret. Okay?
The film that inspired me to visit a city is…
La Dolce Vita, and the city is Rome. Great film. Even greater city. Stay out of the Trevi Fountain, though. They arrest you these days if you aren’t Anita Ekberg. And sorry, sweetheart, you just ain’t.
Trevi fountain in Rome.
The best meal I ever had while travelling…
Was the All You Can Eat Caviar on Concorde. It almost made up for the claustrophobically small cabin. You don’t see caviar around much these days. Or Concordes, come to that.
The place I visit most is…
Australia. I still call New Zealand home (sing it!) but I go to Australia time and again. I want to get up to the Torres Strait Islands. I’d like to find someone to rent me a boat and get around some of these little islands. They’re very remote and I’d like to have a bit of a poke around there and see what’s what. That’s an unfulfilled ambition.
Where should Aussies visit in New Zealand?
If they’re the sort of hyperactive ones who jump off bridges, then this is not something I’d recommend, but if you’re slightly more mature, like me, Dunedin is so interesting and so beautiful.
The Otago Peninsula, which is one side of Dunedin Harbour, has so many little beaches and penguins and seals. The landscape is extraordinary and the town is rich in terms of its architectural heritage. It’s a delightful place and I can’t recommend it more highly.
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