John Wright made that dream come true this week, after first walking the Great Walk in 2004.
A couple of years later, he decided to have a "gap decade", and retired from his job at IT and management consultancy IBM to become a walking guide on the track and later a lodge host on the Routeburn.
The biggest reward was helping those who had every excuse not to complete the 54km Milford Track, he said.
"One person only had a single working leg through polio; someone else was recovering from a terrible incident and was using it as therapy."
It was during his second season, while standing on a bridge halfway through a walk, he received a call to say his grandson, Joe, had been born.
"I thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if I could one day take my grandchildren on the track?"’
That is exactly what happened 12 years later, when 11 friends and family came together to complete the walk.
Mr Wright, who now lives in Porirua, said it wasn’t so easy aged 69, but he bumped into Marlene Ware, who at 80 completed the hike like a "gazelle".
He knew plenty of others would have completed the walk more times than he had, but it was special to be able to do his 70th walk of the track with Joe (13) and his other grandson Noah (15).
