Off the Beaten Track

Television (Full Length) – 1973

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Sir Ed Hillary, then in his early 50s, acts as tour guide to remote New Zealand. In the far north he receives a tokotoko (walking stick) and admires the Aupōuri people’s connection with the land. He goes bush and dives for scallops off Stewart Island, and fishes on a Hollyford sandspit. In 1971 he tackles a grand traverse of Mount Cook with Harry Ayres and other mates — not bad for a self-described "middle-aged family man who has tried to keep himself reasonably fit". Sir Ed narrates, and his down-to-earth passion for adventure makes this an inspiring travelogue.

And then we were on the ridge itself: a glorious aerial highway a mile long — sharp, corniced, icy — always demanding the greatest care.
– Sir Ed negotiates a ridge on a Grand Traverse of Aoraki-Mt Cook