Kia ora, Konnichiwa— I’m Elina.

I’m a filmmaker and writer telling stories through long-distance walking—exploring identity, landscape, and connection across Aotearoa and Japan.

My work lives at the intersection of adventure and storytelling, from YouTube to long-form projects.

Three and a half months of bare feet and cicadas; jumbled scenes from little projects and time outside in the homeland. 1-13: behind the scenes of shooting a video for Gossamer Gear(!!) then swapping sides of the lens. 11. A Te Araroa brother @se
I made a little film you can watch on YouTube. See, there’s this newly established eastern Hokkaido Trail; a 410km route through this lesser-known region of Japan. And this time… I was responsible for keeping this man alive. “
Long trails are never just about wilderness areas. Texture, Colour, Life! They all come from the worlds we’re invited into along the way. These faces and fragments from Ōfunato and the Ryōri peninsula along the Michinoku Coastal Trail gave ro
Postcard moments from Week One on the 1,000km Michinoku Coastal Trail 🇯🇵 I’m walking through towns, along coastline and forested paths. Tsunami memorial sites stand as reminder, and konbini onigiri have become a major food group. The people I
The geese are heading south and the kiwi in me can’t shake the belief that because it’s sunny, it isn’t cold. It’s two degrees. I hear movement behind me. I’m soon to finish this trail and finally meeting my first bear?
I laugh at the irony. “It’s all downhill from here” I catch myself saying. I gave myself 42 days to walk this trail and I’m closing in. But the terrain? The terrain is now an endless cycle of up and down over. Skirting coastal
They say from here on out, the “true wilderness” begins. The sounds of crashing waves and crunchy leaves a constant now, there are less people to talk to. More solitude, more singing, more challenging terrain. I passed through “the
Week three sees the beginning of my minshuku spree. Local inns, trail angels and supporters of the Michinoku, tatami finds my feet each night and I’m leaning into it. A far cry from the previous trails I’ve hiked, I remind myself that not
I’m convinced that tending to a garden is the key to happiness. Some days, the stretches of road feel endless, others, I breeze through from conversation, gifted tomatoes, or petting cats on an island dedicated to them. A trail with loss at the
Moments from my first week on this 1,000 kilometre Michinoku trail. New faces and places, my broken Japanese is forgivable with the local obaachan and ojiisan, passing their wisdom on as I ask them their secrets to happiness. A region that has seen s