Change is afoot in Ingrid Hipkiss’ household. As the ink dries on the paperwork from her new purchase – a house in Auckland’s Three Kings bought two weeks ago at a “nerve-wracking” auction with her fiancé Jack – her eldest son, Hunter, is getting ready to start school.
This all comes just before she switches jobs from presenting TV3’s Nightline to reporting on the six o’clock news. “It’s all happening within a 10-day period!” says Ingrid, cuddling her 14-month-old boy Brody. “But sometimes you just have to dive into change and not over-think it. A couple of weeks down the track I’ll think, ‘Wow, life has completely changed.’
“To be honest, my focus will be on making sure the boys are happy and settled. Everything else will just fall into place,” says the 39-year-old.
Presenting Nightline is the “best job in telly”, says Ingrid. Although she’ll miss the role when Sacha McNeil returns from maternity leave, the job switch is good timing as Hunter begins school. “My last day on is April 13, which is Black Friday. I’ve been joking to the Nightline team that it’s going to be a dark day.
“But working on six o’clock will mean I’ll be home in time to ask Hunter about his day and have story time – all those evening rituals that are really special,” says Ingrid. Up until recently, the evening parenting responsibilities have fallen on Ingrid’s partner, cameraman Jack Tarrant (32). “Jack does the whole dinner, bath and bed routine, which is the tough end of the day – as he tells me on a regular basis,” she jokes.
“Ingrid does the organising and makes all the ‘to do’ lists, and I just do everything that’s on the list,” quips Jack. For her current Nightline job, Ingrid arrives home at midnight each evening and says she might not get to sleep until about 1am – no easy feat with two kids under five.
“Last night I was in bed after midnight, then Hunter came into our room at about 2am. Brody was up wanting a bottle just before 3am, then everyone was up at 7am. “I usually have a nap at 3pm in the afternoon, but it’ll be good to get into some good sleeping patterns again,” she says.
Trying on his new Transformers school bag, Hunter’s chomping at the bit to get to school. But Ingrid has mixed feelings about him turning five. “I’m sure it’ll be emotional. It will feel like a real end of an era.
“This feels like the fastest year of my life – especially after having Brody. I think now Hunter is going to school, he’s suddenly going to be a big boy. Soon he’ll be 12 and then 21. It’s like the rollercoaster has started and time is going to fly from here. “But I’m not worried about Hunter at school. He’s quite a cautious and sensible kid – I’m never worried he’s going to go on his bike and ride off a cliff,” she says.
Although Ingrid admits switching from presenting the news to being in a hands-on reporting role will be a “shock to the system”, she is looking forward to the challenge of hunting for news stories again. “It’ll be good to get back to reporting,” she says. “I really like getting out and meeting people and telling stories – it’s why I got into journalism.
“It’s just the thought of us getting out of the door at a set time each day with Hunter that is going to be the biggest challenge.” Both energetic boys take after their father – a former professional rugby player for North Harbour and Japan – and are tall for their age. Brody is already fitting clothes for two-year-olds. “I can see myself in Brody especially – he’s a bit of a handful,” says Jack. “Hunter’s more like Ingrid – thoughtful and into school.”
“He’s got your sporting ability though,” chips in Ingrid. Ingrid and Jack were married in Japan, where the family lived while Jack was playing rugby – until a neck injury cut his career short. But the marriage is not recognised in New Zealand and Ingrid says they haven’t had time for a “real” wedding yet.
Hunter spent his first two years in Japan and Jack thinks although Hunter is just like a regular rugby-mad Kiwi, a little of his early childhood in Asia has rubbed off on him. “I think he grew up as a Japanese baby – very quiet and not really mixing with many Kiwi kids. When he got to New Zealand it took him a little while to get back into being a Kiwi kid playing outside,” says Jack.
“But now Hunter loves anything to do with sport, and we never mention it around the house, but somehow he’s just picked up on it and he loves rugby.” Ingrid says she isn’t worried about her little boy taking some hard hits while playing schoolyard footy.
“I think he’ll be one of the players who runs quite fast in the field, so they won’t be able to catch him to hurt him, hopefully!”
