Street Cred: From Tonga to the touchline

Tuesday, 7 July 2026

Sarah Hudson, Carolina Hurley and Grace Lenton in central Christchurch.

Great style, well put together, or just someone who catches our eye. Every week reporter CARLY GOOCH gets out and about to discover the people behind the clothes in Canterbury.

Sarah Hudson is back in Christchurch and banking on going places in her new job.

A rugby-mad mum can’t get enough of the sport - maybe because one of her daughters represents New Zealand while another daughter has signed a contract with the Parramatta Eels.

Sarah Hudson, early 30s, is a Bank of China director living in Fendalton, Christchurch.

She recently started her job at the bank after living overseas for eight years.

Spending five of those years in Amsterdam, it was her place of choice because “everyone goes to London, why not something different?”

The Dutch and Kiwis have a very similar manner she says, like their “dry sense of humour” and being “straight forward”.

But it wasn’t enough to make her want to stay in the Netherlands.

Carolina Hurley is part of a rugby-mad family, especially as two of her daughters have represented New Zealand in the sport.

She’s been enjoying re-familiarising herself with her home town after leaving following high school. “I love food and drink, and socialising and exploring the new restaurants.”

She wears a Moochi suit, boots from Head Over Heels, and earrings from a boutique in Capetown that she visited in January.

Carolina Hurley, 51, lives in central Christchurch and is a hotel night manager.

Raised by her grandparents in Tonga, she emigrated with them to New Zealand in 1994 to join family in Auckland.

Now the mother of five grown children, two of her daughters Atlanta Lolohea and older sister Martha Mataele (née Lolohea) play professional rugby - Atlanta for the Black Ferns and Martha for the Parramatta Eels.

“We’re a family known for sports.”

Grace Lenton always wanted braces when she was younger but she never got them. Now, she’s a dental assistant helping others reach their dream set of chompers.

Watching rugby is one of her favourite pastimes, prompting her to travel to England last year for the World Cup.

Carolina has been living in Christchurch since just before the Canterbury earthquakes in 2011 when she moved here with her former husband.

She wears leather boots, a Trelise Cooper jacket and a Calvin Klein bag.

Grace Lenton, 20, is a dental assistant living in Riccarton, Christchurch.

Born in Wellington and raised in Mt Maunganui, she’s been in Christchurch for just over a month, recently completing six weeks at her new job - and her first time working in a dental clinic.

It’s her chosen career as she always liked dentistry and wanted braces as a child, something she never got - but she doesn’t want them any more.

She aims to become a dental hygienist.

Flatting with three friends, she’s been meeting new people in Christchurch and making it home. Her parents moved to the Garden City about two years ago.

She wears a Ruby cardi, Zara jeans, Converse sneakers and carries a Hinza bag.