Amidst grottos of fern

About 4 walkers, both guided and independent, tramp Fiordland’s Hollyford Track each year. The Australian’s John Borthwick writes that New Zealanders’ “love of hoofing it over hill, dale and scrub, tramping, not rugby, is probably their national sport.” “Fiordland is sometimes called ‘the walking capital of the world,’” Borthwick’s guide Ray says. On Borthwick’s second day: “We begin walking again, this time amid tall podocarp forests and grottos of ferns that burn like emerald fire. We’re now so far beyond the world of freeways and vehicles that they seem a century away, either behind or ahead of us. Instead, we have fresh air, oxygen in vast amounts.”