Mr Lehndorf (60), a former Fiordland forest ranger and Greenstone Valley guide, started in Collingwood on January 7, passed through Lake Hawea and Wanaka on his summer mission at the beginning of this month and finished at Te Waewae Bay, Southland, last weekend.
Mr Lehndorf said yesterday he had raised at least $9000 for Friends of Flora, which is helping organise the release of seven breeding pairs of great spotted kiwi into the Kahurangi National Park on May 1.
He is confident of reaching his $10,000 goal by then.
In the meantime, he is still wondering what to do next.
Arriving at Te Waewae Bay had felt strange, he said.
"For the last couple of kilometres all I wanted to do was to get it finished.
"I could hear the ocean pounding away for the first time in weeks.
"But when I got to the end, I thought, 'What am I going to do now?' Emotionally, it was quite a strange few minutes.
"Then I went and celebrated with a good feed of blue cod and Bluff oysters."
Mr Lehndorf lost three toenails in his walk and several kilograms in weight, but otherwise completed his journey feeling good.
He was planning to take it easy for a few more days before returning to Queenstown to collect his belongings and return to Motueka next month.
While he was away doing his walk, the Department of Conservation's kiwi capture team had successfully located several great spotted kiwi in Golden Bay and fitted them with transmitters.
Those birds will be relocated at the end of this month and then flown by helicopter from Golden Bay to their new home in the Kahurangi National Park, where it is hoped they will establish a new population.
The spotted kiwi is New Zealand's largest kiwi and there are about 22,000 left.
