The family lived on Sunny Downs farm in South Canterbury before moving to Diamond Harbour when he was ten.

[3] Judkins received his schooling at St Bede's College and was an A-grade student, but never showed any interest in education.

He wrote a book of poetry for which he could not find a publisher in New Zealand, but moved to Australia and utilised the 50% subsidy that Gough Whitlam's government was offering towards Australian-produced literature; Judkins successfully claimed to be Australian to receive the subsidy towards 600 copies of Burning Days in 1976.

He then took a job as a travelling salesman for McGraw-Hill Publishing and the luxury of having an expense account turned him into a chronic alcoholic.

[5][6] The redundancy money from McGraw-Hill Publishing paid for a relocation of Judkins and his girlfriend Lorraine to London.

They had a high-profile launch of the company by the local MP, Warren Cooper, who attended as Minister of Tourism.

Part of their plan was to offer private expeditions called 'Aspiring to the Pacific', and when he and Tocker did a test run, it took them twelve days to complete it.

A lifelong fan of English singer-songwriter and guitarist Chris Rea, he took the opportunity to meet with the Brit while he was on a concert tour.

The latter event was most contentious and caused much angst, including death threats, physical attacks and anonymous phone calls.

Judkins fought a very public fight with politicians and conservationists, including Gerry McSweeney, and obtained all the approvals and permits, but cancelled the event.

[14] In the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours, Judkins was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to sports administration.