New Zealand
Seven Sharp

Film tracks Christchurch woman’s emotional trek after losing husband and son days apart

June 20, 2019

Among those featured in the film is Christchurch woman Julie Zarifeh.

The Camino De Santiago has been walked for centuries - an 800-kilometre pilgrimage through Spain.

The historic trek is the subject of a soon to be released film - Camino Skies - which follows the emotional journey of three Kiwis and two Aussies.

Among them is Christchurch woman Julie Zarifeh, who lost her husband Paul to cancer and son Sam in a rafting accident in the space of 16 days.

Paul founded Seventhwave Wetsuits, and after his death in 2017 more than 200 people paddled through the Sumner waves to pay their respects.

"That was a Saturday, December 2, and Sam passed away a week later on Saturday the ninth of December."

Four months later, she was walking the Camino. 

"I was probably in shock," she told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp. "If anything, the Camino distracted me from the acuteness of that grief."

The film opens in Christchurch on July 5. 

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