Great Walks 'life-changers'

Walking any of New Zealand's Great Walks will change your life, a group of four international visitors promoting them say.

The Department of Conservation last year announced a three-year partnership with Air New Zealand and to celebrate, a group of people were chosen to experience the eight walks and one canoe journey across both islands by completing them all in nine weeks.

The group comprises an Australian, an American, a Briton and a Japanese. At nearly halfway through their challenge, the group enjoyed a rest in Queenstown on Wednesday before heading to Nelson to start walking

the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk today.

With all the cliff-jumping, environmental education and adventure activities, Joel Cogger, a graphic designer from Australia, said any one of the activities would be ''a really good experience, but we're having them all thrown at us at once''.

Stephanie Hathaway, a blogger from the United States who recently survived breast cancer, said every activity felt like ''the best thing I've done in my life''.

''We do feel exceptionally grateful and it is changing our lives. From here the course of my life is different.''

The group has achieved many milestones, such as ''getting used to'' thick walls of sandflies which line the tracks - Mr Cogger quipped they seemed to particularly like Australians.

A series of Doc rangers had accompanied the group on the walks and the rangers received full praise and respect from the international visitors.

Toshitake Suzuki, a recent graduate from Japan, said he enjoyed meeting people with such passion.

''Doc people don't just do their work to get money - they really love their work.''

Aside from choosing wedding spots and peer-pressuring each other to jump into ice-cold water, the group is quietly coming to terms with how the experience has changed them and what ''normal life'' will hold for them when they return.

Air New Zealand representative Dayna Vawdrey, who has also been completing the walks along with a cameraman, said each person in the group was at a different stage of their life ''and what a great place to get inspired'' for the next stage.

New Zealand's Great Walks are: Kepler, Rakiura, Milford, Routeburn, Abel Tasman Coast, Heaphy, Lake Waikaremoana and the Tongariro Northern Circuit and Whanganui River (canoe journey).