the culture. Most of the trails are in excellent shape. The parks are pristine. And the scenery is as good as it gets. What Americans in particular have to adjust to is the level of government involvement. Going to a Dept of Conservation office to make reservations is a far cry from being able to throw your bag down anywhere you want to and sleep under the stars. Some of it is just how they like to do things but more often it's a matter of making a fragile resource available to as many people as possible without harming it.One of the other big adjustments is the trail system itself. In the US and Europe many of the
trails go on for hundreds or even thousands of miles and have networks of connecting trails. Long distance hiking in New Zealand is like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. The distances between towns are too great, the mountains are too technical and the terrain is too challenging for it to work. The tracks are three or four day hikes that are more or less independent of each other. So while it's true that a few hardy individuals have managed to trek from north to south, it's also true that others have died trying. Make the adjustment and you'll enjoy it just as much.