How Asia shaped Leadership Network member 's life of adventure
For the August installment of our series connecting with some of the Leadership Network's earliest members, we touch base with adventure journalist and author Nathan Hoturoa Gray. Nathan's connection with the Leadership Network stretches back to 2009, joining after recieving a Foundation Media Travel Grant to cover the Beijing Olympics. In 2000, Nathan walked some 4000kms of the Great Wall of China, laying the foundations of his "long-term love affair" with Asia. Since then, Nathan has continued to live a life of adventure and giving back to the communities that have shaped him.
Nathan— who is on Doc Edge's board — at the 2026 Doc Edge Awards in Auckland
Nathan Gray was 13 when Asia first challenged his understanding of the world.
A family trip to Bali in 1987 exposed him to bustling streets, the Monkey Dance, tropical landscapes and the constant buzz of a society unlike anything he had experienced growing up in New Zealand.
“It taught me that there is such a massive world out there to explore,” Nathan says.
And explore it, he did.
After completing the final year of his law honours degree on scholarship in California, Nathan worked as a legal policy analyst for the Indigenous Chamorro government in Saipan, then clerked at a corporate law firm in Alaska.
He returned to Asia to trek the length of the Great Wall of China to mark the millennium.
"This adventure ignited my long-term love affair with the continent and saw me spend several cherished years of my life over there," he says.
The 4000-kilometre expedition led to his first book, First Pass Under Heaven: One Man’s 4000km Trek Along the Great Wall of China, and the start of a journalism career that took him across Asia.
Nathan's Great Wall hike in 2000 led to his first book, First Pass Under Heaven: One Man’s 4000km Trek Along the Great Wall of China
Nathan covered the FIFA World Cup in South Korea, the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand, Cyclone Ondoy in the Philippines, and water conflicts in India and Pakistan, and reported on China’s rapid infrastructure growth from bases in Hong Kong and Beijing.
His connection with the Asia New Zealand Foundation began when he received a media grant to cover the Beijing Olympics, before he joined the Leadership Network in 2009.
"I met so many amazing and talented young leaders through the network, and the orientations and leadership get-togethers were brilliantly organised to forge life-long friendships and valuable professional connections," he says.
One highlight was an offshore Leadership Network hui to Malaysia and Singapore in 2014.
“There were so many laughs and communal goodwill on that trip as we whizzed through Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown and Singapore, meeting government officials, business and community leaders and learning about the aspirations and challenges they faced,” he says.
“Having a dance party on top of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur is a memory I will cherish forever.”
Nathan on the 2014 Manila Malaysia and Singapore hui: "There were so many laughs and communal goodwill on that trip"
The network also helped Nathan connect his experiences in Asia with opportunities back in New Zealand.
His photographs from China and the Philippines were featured in the Foundation’s Once Upon a Time in Asia exhibition, and a later Foundation travel grant supported a speaking engagement about his Great Wall expedition at the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong.
Since then, much of Nathan's work has involved helping others understand Asia and Aotearoa better.
He has spoken to hundreds of schools through the Alan Duff Books in Homes Charitable Trust, and now lectures international students through Michigan State University’s study abroad programmes, bringing a Māori perspective to conservation, culture and communication.
He sees that work as part of the same kaupapa that drew him to the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
“It has been hugely rewarding work and a great way to give back to the next generation the same way that the Asia New Zealand Foundation has been doing for all us young leaders as we were making our way through the ranks,” he says.
Looking ahead, Nathan is excited sharing his love of Asia with his son
His involvement with the Leadership Network’s Te Kahui Māori leadership rōpū also shaped his own approach to governance and community contribution.
He has since served on boards including Te Waka Toi, the Māori Arts Board of Creative New Zealand, and Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision, and currently contributes through Ngāi Tahu Māori Land Trust in Koukourarata (Port Levy) and Doc Edge.
Nearly two decades after joining the Leadership Network, he still values the connections it created.
Although he has graduated from the programme, he remains connected with the Foundation whānau through events and gatherings, watching successive leaders carry the work forward.
For him, it all comes back to the lesson he learned as a 13 year old in Bali: the world is much bigger than it first appears.
Now, he is preparing to pass that on.
“I look forward to taking my son Oliver to Asia next year for the first time to introduce him to the incredible people, culture, food and nature that I was so fortunate to have experienced over the years,” he says.
The Foundation's Asia in Focus initiative publishes expert insights and analysis on issues across Asia, as well as New Zealand’s evolving relationship with the region.
