Rebecca's Kiwi paradise 'I LOVE BEİNG A SMALL-TOWN GIRL!'

Putting down roots in Dunedin suits the beloved Under the Vines actress down to the ground

- Wendyl Nissen

She's a familiar face on our screens and has been for a while now. But when Rebecca Gibney talks to the Weekly from her Dunedin home, she is shockingly real.

"Oh, look at my hair," she says flicking her blonde hair up and down. "I went to the hairdressers yesterday and I said, 'I know I've got everything and I'm so lucky and grateful, but couldn't I just have been given a bit more hair?"" she laughs.

"I know that by the time I'm 80, I'm going to have three hairs left and I'll probably dye them purple and perm them!"

Rebecca, 58, is very funny. And it's this humour and unaffected personality which shines through in her popular TVNZ 1 series Under the Vines. In its second season, the hit show about two people who inherit a struggling vineyard in Clyde is a piece of sunshiny bliss, funny and calming, addictive and heartwarming all at once.

"Some call it a drama, others call it a romantic comedy," says Rebecca when asked how she describes the show. "But to me, it's a drama that can be funny. It's just light and joyous, like a warm hug or an ice cream or a glass of wine when you need it. That’s why I love it.”

But she also credits the cast and crew for bonding in a way that allows them to take that special relationship with them on to the set.

“When we all get to Clyde – which is such a lovely place – from various places all around the world and all around New Zealand, we get put in these lovely little accommodations and we all hang out together,” she reveals. “We do karaoke on a Friday, we play games on the weekends and have afternoon barbecues.”