As well as starting a family, the Expedition Earth pair have started a local tourism business in Godzone. Photo / Supplied
As well as starting a family, the Expedition Earth pair have started a local tourism business in Godzone. Photo / Supplied
There are new endeavours afoot for Expedition Earth Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray, with the couple revealing a baby, a new business and a “bunker-style structure”.
Kiwi husband and wife Topher Richwhite, 36, and Bridget Thackwray, 29, who became world famous for their Expedition Earth journey, travelling thelength and width of the globe by Jeep, are expecting their first child.
As well as starting a family, the pair have started a local tourism business in Godzone called Faraway Entertainment Ltd.
Richwhite and Thackwray began their global expedition in late 2018 in the Arctic Circle — a three-year, 350,000km trip across seven continents.
After Covid delays and getting married in early 2022 on the Great Mercury Island family compound of Richwhite’s father, David, the pair embarked on their third and final leg — travelling through Europe and on to the Arabian deserts.
The couple, who had been in all sorts of precarious situations in hot spots around the globe, were advised to get married before entering the Middle East and have an escort meet them at the border and accompany them throughout their Iranian leg.
Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray became world famous for their Expedition Earth journey, travelling the length and width of the globe by Jeep. Photo / Supplied
That July the couple were detained in Iran and, for four months, their Instagram page with nearly 300,000 followers went silent on their entry into the country. The page has stayed silent since.
Nearly four months later, then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern explained MFAT and the New Zealand Government had been working hard to “ensure the safe exit of two New Zealanders from Iran”. Ardern described their time in the country as “particularly difficult”.
When Richwhite and Thackwray were safe and out of Iran they issued a statement. “We are extremely relieved and happy to be back with our families,” the couple said. “We are most grateful to all those who have supported us over recent months and thank them sincerely for all their help during this challenging chapter in our Expedition Earth journey.
“We are safe and well, however we would ask for privacy for ourselves and our families over the coming days while we collect our bearings and enjoy being reunited with our families.”
Richwhite and Thackwray’s detainment made world headlines, but the pair has not spoken about their ordeal to local media or to big offers from overseas outlets since.
They have maintained a low profile since living permanently back in New Zealand. They are understood to be in the pregnancy’s second trimester and did not wish to comment to Spy other than to say they were “excited” about their new arrival.
Richwhite and Thackwray’s detainment made world headlines, but they have not spoken about their ordeal to local media. Photo / Supplied
As well as a baby on the way, the couple have started a business called Faraway Entertainment Ltd. Local media outlet Mountain Scene reported Faraway was asking the Queenstown Lakes District Council for council approval to establish and operate a glow-worm cave on a 119ha site off Gorge Rd, opposite the Queenstown Community Gardens.
The business of Faraway started during Covid when the pair built a private hideaway called Faraway Cove on pristine coastal land not far from Kauri Cliffs in the Far North. Thackwray told Spy in 2021, they had a waiting list of guests wishing to book it. “Building in the Far North made sense to us, immersed in nature and outdoor living, which is why we have called our little paradise Faraway Cove,” said Thackwray.
Since their return from Iran, they have spent a great deal of time in Queenstown. Their application is being vetted by council and Faraway says the new venture will allow visitors to have an up-close and intimate encounter with the world’s largest living glow-worm colony.
Richwhite and Thackwray told Mountain Scene the goal of Queenstown’s Sustainable Glow worm Eco-Cave Project (Eco-Cave) is to promote regenerative tourism.
‘’We hope the Eco-Cave will alleviate pressure from delicate unregulated glow-worm colonies,’’ they told Mountain Scene.
They explained that the primary proposed building — the Eco-Cave itself — has had its visible entry/exit designed by people who worked on The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film sets. The “bunker-style structure” will be disguised under native trees and grasses, with ‘’naturalistic artificial rock material’'.
If Richwhite and Thackwray get approval, visitors, up to 100 at a time — or up to 1200 a day during peak season — will meander through the cave, along a walkway, to view the glow worms.
