However, after completing the journey with his wife and two children, he has been assured it was the best decision, as the trip brought the family even closer and would be forever in their memories.
Mr Bradshaw said they are quite an adventurous family.
"Both of us [he and his wife] have sailed down to the Antarctic before we had children and we’ve done a fair bit of sailing and things like that.
"The kids are equally very adventurous, and when I kind of suggested that, everyone’s like ‘Oh, yeah, that sounds like a great idea’."
Mr Bradshaw, Christine and their two children Tyge (12) and Kaja (10) — from Arrowtown — started the preparation for their journey months earlier as they needed to be prepared for all scenarios.
He had done a lot of work to modify the boat to ensure it could withstand tough sea conditions, bought dry bags and built small boxes to store the gear and the essentials they needed.
They also went through a few gear practises to ensure all of them felt comfortable and familiarised with it.
Being a person with a lot of outdoor experience, he knew the security of his family was paramount, he said.
"To do something like this, it is really, really important to have well designed gear, to really think through all the things that can go wrong and to ensure you’ve got a good survival plan.
"You need to be thinking through all the scenarios and making sure you’ve got everything covered, and well organised."
Their adventure through Fiordland started at Monkey Island on the first day of the year, and extended 24 memorable days, covering 500 kilometres and generating many stories, until they arrived in Milford Sound, their final destination.
"The plan was to climb Mt Bradshaw and do as much exploring as possible.
"We camped and stayed in huts where possible."
Mr Bradshaw admitted they were very lucky as they only faced good weather with almost no rain — which was unusual for Fiordland — and the biggest challenge was the sandflies.
"It was only twice that I felt like, you know, things could go wrong if I don’t get out of here quickly.
"But generally we had a) very good weather and b) we were very cautious, especially when we were in the open ocean bits."
They carried only essential gear, but a fisherman friend from Riverton met them twice along the way to drop off some food and fuel.
He said water was never a problem either as there was fresh water running down from all the streams and rivers.
The experience was amazing for all of them but he said it was great and watching his children gaining confidence, which "was one of the most rewarding things."
Tyge became a master spear diving fisherman and Kaja became fascinated by the wildlife and now wants to become a marine biologist, he said.
"I think for me as a parent just seeing that the huge increase in confidence from our children was amazing.
"To the point, that on the second last day, we were out snorkelling and Ty went down to do spear fishing and then these two sharks turned up. I was like, ‘Oh, the sharks are here. We should get out of here’ — and the children were like ‘nah, that is all right, you just punch them on the nose’," he laughed.
Mr Bradshaw believed this was the first time something like this has been done in New Zealand and he hoped his adventure could encourage other families to live their adventures — but of course he encouraged them to be mindful and careful about the safety of everyone before setting out and they would also need to have experience, knowledge of the area and survival skills, he said.
Before their trip he had approached a helicopter company who was on standby for any emergency.
"I think, doing something like this does push the the boundaries of safety and some people inevitably will sort of say ‘oh, well, you’re putting your kids in danger’.
"As parents, you’ve got to, make those decisions and say ‘Well, I believe we can do this safely. I believe that it was actually really good for us as a family to do’."
The experience would be forever with them and now they are planning the next one, which could see them travelling through Stewart Island, Farewell Spit and even Patagonia, in South America, he said.
"That’s an amazing thing as a parent to look back on and think — even when the kids have grown up and left home — ‘Well, we all had that amazing experience’."
