A Wellington woman’s ticked off all 11 of New Zealand’s Great Walks – in 11 days straight.
The feat of endurance took Bridget Johnson along 550 kilometres of trail and on a 150km paddle.
One of the Great Walks – the Hump Ridge Track in Fiordland National Park – was added to the list just last year.
“There were little moments every day that just sort of made me go, ‘Oh my God, I’m getting to do this. I’m so lucky to get this opportunity’,” she told 1News.
Johnson trained for 25 hours a week in preparation.
“The training was huge and — in many ways, on reflection — the training was harder than the actual project itself.”
She was supported by a crew of 20 to help with transitions and nutrition.
“I have an alarm on my watch that goes off once every 30 minutes and just says ‘eat’.”
Johnson’s journey began in the north at Lake Waikaremoana – sometimes running into the night – before finishing at the very southern end of the country, on Rakiura.
“It wasn’t really until the plane to Stewart Island touched down that I really had this feeling of, ‘oh, we might just pull this off’, like ‘this is pretty cool and I think we’re going to be able to do it’,” she said.
She hoped her achievement encouraged others to embark on an adventure as she planned her next mission.
“There’s just so much more to explore in New Zealand. Exactly what that is yet, I don’t know but It’s probably going to be big, I hope.”