On any given day, Herne Bay beach-goers can spot a curious sight as Lord of the Rings star Bruce Hopkins does his daily backflip off his local jetty.
What started as a fun way to end his ocean swims has grown into a yearly challenge to mark his birthday, where he completes as many backflips as he is years old. It’s all to raise money and awareness for the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren charity.
“I love that moment when you’re in the air rotating backwards!” tells the 69-year-old. “I’ll keep doing it as long as my body holds out.”
The organisation advocates for grandparents to ensure they get access to the support they need. It’s a cause Bruce is passionate about as one of his siblings is raising their grandchild.
“It’s an incredible sacrifice they’re making,” he admits. “These are the years when they should be pulling back and relaxing. It’s the purest form of love on display.”
For Bruce, family is everything. All three of his kids, Tom, 38, Joe, 37 – dad to Charlie, 17, Grace, 11, and Fred, eight – and Francesca, 35 – mum to Claudia, two – live within a 15-minute drive. And they all gather almost every week for a family meal.
Bruce loves having a front-row seat to his children’s parenting journey.
“I’m in awe of them,” the former crayfisherman says. “They’re lovely parents and have great relationships with their kids.”
While Bruce has always been very close with his grandkids, he’s had to learn to connect with them in a new way in recent years.
“When they were little, I loved playing and being an idiot with them,” he says. “As they get older, I’m learning I have to stand back and let them discover their own worlds.”
He was especially thrilled that Gracie was happy to skip a morning of school to spend quality time with him at the Weekly’s photoshoot.
“Gracie’s blossomed into this gorgeous young woman,” he enthuses. “She can sew and bake amazing cakes. She’s teaching me lots.”
Bruce’s backflipping effort, now in its third year, isn’t the first time he has put his body on the line to raise money for charity.
In 2018, Bruce walked Te Araroa, a series of trails from Cape Reinga to Bluff and managed to raise more than $30,000 for the charity.
Bruce was born on Stewart Island, but his family moved to Russell when he was a baby. He admits he has always felt torn between his two homes.
“Doing the walk was for me to establish my sense of belonging,” he reveals. “My father and brother had died and I wanted to carry their ashes with me so that I could return them to the island.”
It was a moving experience for Bruce, but his almost seven-month journey was marred by injury.
He slipped on a piece of seaweed in Whangārei and cracked his shin. He developed a severe case of cellulitis, an infection in the deep layers of the skin, forcing him to return home for two weeks to heal.
“I couldn’t walk,” he shares. “I had to roll out of bed and drag myself to the bathroom.”
He was back on the trail as soon as he could carry a pack, but sickness struck again in Hamilton. He saw blood in his urine and tests revealed he had a small cancerous mass in his bladder. Miraculously, they caught it early and he was back walking a few weeks after surgery.
Bruce’s lowest point came while trekking through Arthur’s Pass when he slipped in the scree and badly scraped his knee. Winter was already starting to creep in, so he had no choice but to finish the walk with his injury.
“I became demoralised, my knee was so sore,” he reveals. “Then I had a couple of days walking in the snow and it was the first time I thought, ‘Am I going to make it out of this?’”
He made it through, and when he arrived on Stewart Island with his family waiting to greet him, Bruce knew it was all worth it.
“Hard as it was, it was a wonderful experience.”
Bruce admits he’s now seriously considering a second attempt at his South Island trek to mark his upcoming 70th birthday.
“I keep thinking, ‘If not now, when?’ If my body is up to it, I’d love to do it.”
To support Bruce and Grandparents Raising Grandchildren visit grg.org.nz/donate-online to donate.
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