This weekend he will complete his mission to conquer each of New Zealand’s Great Walks in a single pair of jandals.
Mr Cope started his journey on a day trip to the first hut on the Routeburn Track in 2022.
He said he left his shoes out in the rain and they were not wearable, so he opted to wear jandals instead.
Egged on by his friend, Jess Blyth, who was on the hike with him, Mr Cope wore the jandals the entire way.
"It probably went a bit too far.
"We were joking about doing all of the walks in jandals and a few weeks later we were starting it," he said.
Two years later and eight walks down Mr Cope was returning to the Routeburn to complete "the great jandal challenge" and complete the entire track.
Mr Cope said throughout his journey he had encountered no major problems but "jandal-wise the Rakiura was the most difficult".
"It was just so muddy down there and the jandals kept getting suctioned into the mud.
"I was using the same pair of jandals for the whole nine walks and that was the only time I got a blow-out in them."
Mr Cope was able to fix the jandal and continue.
Mr Cope said Ms Blyth suggested he should message manufacturer Havaianas to tell them about the challenge and to his surprise the brand responded with a new pair of jandals, a T-shirt and a giant inflatable jandal which he later used to raft through the rapids in the Lake Waikaremoana Track.
He said he would take on the frosty conditions at the Routeburn this weekend with special socks with pockets for his toes that his mother got him for Christmas.
