You might say 84-year-old David Eddy is a walking advertisement - not just for the 'wonder drug' of walking and the 50,000 km he has travelled on his own two feet but also for the benefits of the tracks and trails of the Canterbury region.
Christchurch's Eddy is living proof of the healthy effects of walking - labelled with physical activity as "the closest thing we have to a wonder drug" by Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New Zealand's nine Great Walks have come under the microscope lately with the director-general of the Department of Conservation, Lou Sanson, going public about crowds on the walks and floating the idea of charges to control numbers and their effect on the environment.
Canterbury's walks (there are over 300) do not suffer from crowds and are resolutely free - and DOC and Christchurch City Council spokesmen say it is "very unlikely" charges will be considered for them.
Which is good news for Eddy, who has tramped all over New Zealand and other countries yet considers Canterbury walks the best. "I love the mountains and the hills," he says, "and you're only ever 20 minutes away from a great walk."
He is not alone in this view. Walking is one of the main reasons people visit Canterbury, according to Angela Gordon, general manager marketing at Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism. She says Australians make up the largest number from overseas with the region attracting nearly a quarter of the 530,000 who come to New Zealand for holidays each year. You can find out more about what's on offer, on the Christchurch Canterbury walks website.
Eddy has been a member of the Bishopdale Tramping Club for 26 years but has been walking with various groups and clubs since the age of 22 - 62 years in all. By the best reckoning he has covered around 50,000 km in that time and agrees his longevity and good health are at least partly due to his walking.
He is one of four members of the OBE group at the Bishopdale club - the 'Over Bloody Eighties'. "When I first joined the club no-one was even approaching that age but I think the fact some are now is because we've been walking for all these years. It's probably added years to my life, that's for sure," he says.
A retired engineer, Eddy joined his first tramping club after going on a deer hunting expedition into the Canterbury high country when in his early 20s. "It was such a wonderful experience I wanted to do it again. I didn't worry about carrying a rifle after that, I joined a walking group instead."
Eddy admits he is slowing down a little now and avoids particularly steep hills. Yet he still can't get enough walking. Most weeks he goes on the regular Bishopdale club tramp (they average 14 km); he is a member of a second group, the Over Forties Tramping Club; he even goes on foot to his local shopping mall ("I don't often take the car").
There are over 300 primary walks in Christchurch and Canterbury and Gordon says there are also hundreds of private farm walks.
She says the 'Hero' walks - Hooker Valley, Kaikoura Peninsula, Mt Somers, Castle Hill, Godley Head, Washpen Falls and Hinewai Reserve - are popular and cover all levels while in Christchurch itself the 360 Trail, Christchurch Coastal Pathway and the 6.3km circuit of Hagley Park attract many walkers.
The Ministry of Health says around two out of every three people aged over 16 regularly walk, making it the most popular sport and recreation in New Zealand among adults; while a Tourism New Zealand report says over the last five years one in four visitors from overseas did a walking or hiking activity during their holiday - equating to over a million people or an average of 254,000 a year.
Most medical experts agree walking is good for you. In a special report Walking for Health, the Harvard Medical School in the US says the pastime can have a bigger impact on disease risk and various health conditions than just about any other remedy.
"Walking for 2.5 hours a week - that's 21 minutes a day - can cut your risk of heart disease by 30 per cent," the report says. "In addition this do-anywhere, no equipment-required activity has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes and cancer, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and keep you mentally sharp."