The Mountain Club Podcast

What does it take to build a global business without a plan, and how do you know when you’re done?Host Clare Irons sits down with Mia Feasey, founder and former CEO of Siren Design, one of Australia’s leading commercial interior design firms. Mia started Siren at 26 with little formal training. She grew it into a business with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Singapore, London and New York, designing workplaces for companies like Google and Facebook.Mia explains why great workplace design is about how people feel in a space, not just how it looks, and how saying yes to opportunities and backing the right people drove Siren’s growth. She shares how three values, bravery, kindness and authenticity, became her test for every hard decision, because if a decision met all three, she could stand by it even when it turned out wrong. She also talks about why, after 20 years of trying to prove herself, she realised she was enough and sold the business. Mia is open about navigating the transition, life after exiting, and being okay with not having all the answers yet. Five years after moving from Sydney, she explains how Queenstown gave her room to ski, hike and be with her family, and why she joined Mountain Club because she didn’t want to just live here, she wanted to connect with people.A warm, practical listen on leadership, values, and life after building a business.

Paddy Kluts sits down with Christina Grant, founder of New Zealand merino brand Perriam, who has just walked away from 10 years in Wanaka to put everything into Tarras and the merino shop her mother ran for more than 30 years. They talk about growing up on Bendigo Station, where her father co-founded the New Zealand Merino Company, and carrying on her mother’s legacy.Christina traces her path from a creative awakening at fashion school in Wellington, through a scholarship to the Italian wool mills and years working in London, to coming home to care for her mum, Heather, in her final months. She explains why Perriam avoids anything too trend-driven and keeps making in New Zealand when offshore would be cheaper. She also shares how her ADHD diagnosis at 47, after sitting in on her son’s assessment, made sense of years of hyperfocus and burnout, and why she’s choosing connection at home over chasing endless expansion, starting with a Tarras Village Creative Club that sold out in four minutes.A personal, open-hearted listen on merino, motherhood, and the courage to choose something different.Please note: this episode includes discussion of grief and loss. If this feels close to home, take care while listening. Support is available via 1737 (NZ), free to call or text, anytime.

Please note: this episode contains strong language and discussion of drug use.Snow Machine has grown from a small-scale first edition in Japan to a festival now pulling over 6,000 Australians to Queenstown every year. This episode was recorded live as part of Mountain Club's VIP Snow Machine event, The Ultimate Alpine Experience. This installment of the Speaker Series saw host Danny Clayton, an Australian TV and radio presenter and DJ, sit down with three people who've shaped the festival from the inside. Nick Atkins spent two decades in television news and weather before becoming a DJ. Illy is an ARIA Award-winning rapper with 15 years of touring behind him, and one of the headline acts at Snow Machine 2026. Pat Stevenson is the photographer who has shot every one of Snow Machine's ten editions, along with 18 straight years at Splendour in the Grass. Together they trace the festival back to its first, nearly-cancelled edition in March 2020, unpack why Snow Machine keeps growing while other festivals fold, and debate AI's place in an industry built on live experience. An iconic lineup on an iconic stage, talking festivals, artistry, and what makes Snow Machine last.A hilarious insider listen on live music, festival culture, and the Snow Machine story, from the artists who are at the centre of it all.

A very special 50th episode of the Mountain Club Podcast. Pete Fullerton-Smith, CEO, and Paddy Kluts, Co-Owner and Membership Manager of Mountain Club, sit down to reflect on the almost two years since they recorded the very first, origins episode, and everything Mountain Club has achieved since: the growth, the events, the connections, and the experiences.Pete and Paddy talk through the Mountain Club ecosystem and the flywheel effect, the compounding network of connections that has helped drive membership to nearly double since that first conversation, from sold-out signature experiences like NZFW and Snow Machine: The Ultimate Alpine Experience, a full weekly wellness schedule to member-led events and business introductions playing out across Queenstown, Australia and globally. They also introduce the excitement building around Summit, Mountain Club's newest offering connecting high-net-worth individuals relocating to New Zealand, and what it means for the next wave of growth.A celebratory listen on legacy, growth, and the future of Mountain Club with the people who built it.

Paddy sits down with Nigel Hobbs, Managing Director of Tourism Innovation Group (TIG), for a conversation on betting on wellness tourism, scaling a group of touring brands, and stepping into his own era of Queenstown tourism.Nigel reflects on the mentors who've shaped his career, and talks through the old guard and the new guard. Why he now sees his generation as the ones taking control of what comes next for the region, building on what the old guard set up. He explains why TIG's brands, Altitude Tours, Black, and Fiordland Tours, have always been about the journey rather than the place, and why his newest venture Tussock Ridge is different: an outdoor hot pool destination cantilevered off a hillside above Lake Johnson, each pool private enough to see the stars and the lights of Coronet Peak. Nigel believes it could be one of the best hot pool locations anywhere in the world, opening at the start of next winter.A well worth while listen on legacy, wellness tourism, and building for the long game in Queenstown.

Paddy sits down with Roger Sharp, founder and chair of Technology Queenstown and former chair of Webjet, who watched Queenstown's tourism-dependent economy buckle under COVID and decided a one-industry town wasn't good enough anymore. Roger explains how he convinced a university to launch a tech campus in Queenstown, why he bet on tourism itself as the way into a travel tech ecosystem, and what it actually took to bring the global WIT conference here and fill Memorial Hall with some of the world's most famous CEOs from Agoda, Air New Zealand, Expedia, and more.He shares the tangible momentum already building off the back of it, from new AI platforms choosing to pilot in Queenstown to the investors now paying attention, and what the next decade of jobs, investment, and infrastructure could look like if the plan works. An exciting, forward-looking listen on tech, tourism, and the future of Queenstown's economy.

Recorded live for New Zealand Fashion Week, Clare Irons sits down with four people shaping the future of the industry in Aotearoa: stylist Lou Heller, Mons Royale co-founder Hamish Acland, Perriam founder Christina Perriam, and Nat Newlands, designer behind NEWLANDS and Legacy Land. All four grew up on farms, and all four have built businesses at the intersection of creativity, sustainability, and identity.The conversation moves from origin stories to the hard realities of making fashion in New Zealand. Christina makes the case that longevity is sustainability, and why a $400 piece worn for ten years beats fast fashion on cost per wear. Hamish explains how New Zealand's narrow supply chain which once a disadvantage, is now becoming a competitive edge as EU transparency laws raise the bar. Nat argues the first responsibility for sustainability sits with designers, not consumers, and Lou unpacks why knowing your personal style is the antidote to the dopamine hit of the hunt.A live conversation that's a little funny, very real, and full of insight into the future of New Zealand fashion.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy is coming to New Zealand. Paddy sits down with two Mountain Club members, Dr Pragati Gautama, a GP and rural hospital specialist with more than 30 years in medicine, and Grace Cooper, a former registered nurse and counsellor, for an illuminating conversation on the practice they are building following the country's approval of its first prescriber in June 2025.Pragati and Grace delve into the personal motivations that led them to this groundbreaking field, tracing the history of psychedelics from ceremonial plant use to modern medical advancements, and the science of how these substances work on the brain. Pragati walks through the legislation now in motion and the opportunity for New Zealand to become a genuine source country given psilocybin already grows here. Grace explains the actual structure of treatment, from screening and preparation through an eight-hour supervised session to months of integration, and how this work is reshaping communities and opening new pathways for healing.A groundbreaking, hopeful listen on mental health, regulation, and the future of psychedelic medicine in New Zealand. Dr Pragati and Grace will soon be practising in New Zealand under the name Medicine for the Mind. You'll find the link in the podcast, and they'd warmly welcome any questions.

What happens when a family farm runs out of reasons to keep raising sheep, but the family refuses to give up the land? Host Paddy sits down with Annika Grant, co-founder of Country Lane, a working farm on the outskirts of Queenstown reimagined into a 28-tenant boutique village built from salvaged and relocated buildings, including the old Queenstown District High School and cabins rescued from the demolished Lakeview Holiday Park. Annika shares how it began with her sister-in-law sewing a children's clothing line in a converted hay barn, why the hand-picked Country Lane Collective is built on short-term leases and a strict no-chain-stores rule, and what's coming next: ten hot pools on the farm's hillside overlooking Lake Johnson and Coronet Peak, a holistic health hub, and the restoration of the farm's original homestead. She also weighs in on Queenstown's growth, the proposed gondola crossing the family's farm hill, and why she would rather build somewhere people linger than somewhere built for stop and shop. A grounded, honest listen on place-making, community-first development, and building something that lasts.

What begins as a walk often becomes something far greater. Clare sits down with Matt Claridge, Chief Executive of Te Araroa, New Zealand’s 3,000 kilometre pathway stretching from Cape Reinga to Bluff. More than a track, it weaves through cities, backcountry, and communities, offering a deeply personal journey for those who step onto it.Together, they explore the evolving role of the trail, from tourism and sustainability to community connection and access to the outdoors. The conversation moves beyond logistics into meaning, unpacking why people walk and what they discover along the way.Through stories from the trail, we discover how Matt is helping shape Te Araroa into more than a national asset. It is a growing movement, encouraging more New Zealanders to reconnect with the land and discover what exists beyond the everyday.