A New Zealand man who says he was scared witless by thunderstorms as a kid, now goes on storm-chasing holidays in the US on which "you can end up dead".
Graeme MacDonald told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp he has a really boring day job as a motor vehicle wholesaler.
His idea of a really good time is storm chasing or tornado chasing, which he calls "severe weather chasing".
Call it what you like, when you chase severe weather, you're chasing danger.
"I nearly got struck by lightning in Oklahoma. And we're not talking about a couple of bolts out in the Waitakere Ranges," Mr MacDonald said.
"You get literally hail the size of baseballs. And when you've seen that and been in that, had it smash out your windshield, huge dents in your vehicles, our tour leader Dave is just screaming, 'get back in the van, get back in the van!'
"That's the intensity of it. You can end up dead."
Costing up to $12,000 a pop, Mr MacDonald's hazardous holidays are marked out with old-fashioned maps, charting his awe at nature's power and unpredictability.
"You're under skies, almost biblical proportions. Boiling dark grey matter, lightning, thunder, rolling clouds boiling into a supercell. And you've watched that from a beautiful summer's day to basically hell in the sky, That's a special feeling."
But he says he's not addicted to danger.
"No, no, it's not danger. People ask about the risk factor and whether that's part of the appeal. It's not. It's the intensity of weather, yes, but the risk factor doesn't come into it."
And like the storms he fears and worships, Mr MacDonald's passion has an unlikely origin.
"I was the kid that when a thunder storm came along at night, specially lightning and thunder, I'd hide under the bedclothes.
"I was absolutely scared witless by thunderstorms, I really was. And it wasn't till my later life that I realised that that fear was part of the fascination. And the fascination has led to my passion for storm chasing, for severe weather."
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