Drive or be driven, take the bus or your bike, or simply by foot: every night, we weigh up time, money and convenience in deciding how we get home. In a series of videos, young New Zealanders from across the country take us on their typical route home – and share the risks they assess along the way.
Recent graduate Clara Pau often walks home by herself after a night out in Dunedin; because of the compact nature of the city, it’s cheap and convenient.
A feature article published in the Otago University student magazine Critic earlier this year highlighted the “constant threat of intimidation” posed by harassment of female students as they walked through the city.
But on the whole Pau feels safe walking home by herself – though she texts her flatmates to let them know she’s on her way as a precaution, and admits “you do get quite confrontational people sometimes”.
“I do feel safe when I walk home in Dunedin – especially on the North side,” she says. “Towards the South end it seems a little bit less patrolled and a little bit less well-lit. So I’m always a little bit wary of that.”
She takes videographer John Bollen along on the usual route she’d take home, highlighting the risks she weighs up along the way.
This content is brought to you with funding support from New Zealand On Air.
