The team had to pass through some very high mountain passes and glaciers. Photo: Supplied / Finn Ross
Aotearoa's Pole of Inaccessibility is the furthest point from any road and arguably New Zealand's most remote spot.
It's so arduous an expedition that set off in February is believed to be the only one to have made it to the point in Mount Aspiring National Park - and it wasn't without drama.
Four of them set out, one of them had to be airlifted to safety and only two people made it to the elusive Pole of Inaccessibility.
Expedition member Finn Ross told Checkpoint it was a serious adventure.
"South Westland is one of the weirdest places on the planet. We've got the wilderness zones in South Westland, so you can't fly in there.
"The only way you can get in is on your own two feet and you've got to carry all your food for that time."
He said the group brought in a range of dehydrated meals and hunted animals for food.
"Luckily we were able to supplement the dehydrated meals with quite a bit of hunted game from the trip as well, so doing a bit of conservation work while we're out there taking out some pest species."
The terrain in South Westland was extremely tough and diverse, he said.
"You've got these incredibly steep mountains, but you've also got this bush, which is just completely in inhospitable in really steep countries.
"We were crossing through a lot of really challenging rainforest country, but also through some very high mountain passes and glaciers."
The expedition is believed to be the only one to have made it to the point in Mount Aspiring National Park. Photo: Supplied / Finn Ross
Riley, one of the four members of the group, was seriously injured on day nine of the trip and had to be helicoptered out.
"He dislodged a boulder, my brother actually pointed out to me and said don't grab that rock, it looks unstable. He went to grab the bigger rock, and it turned out that was actually more unstable and pulled it onto his leg.
"Initially, we were all pretty scared, we thought it was quite severe. I was 100 metres above them and I heard the yelling and pull the EPIRB."
The injury required 19 stiches, he said.
"We're extremely grateful to LandSAR New Zealand they provided an extremely professional and fast response that allowed a hellie evac at night which was extremely impressive."
When they got to day 12, Ross' brother stayed behind.
"It was a combination of him needing to do a bunch of camp admin and set up the rafts for the next day, and I guess exhaustion between the group that kept him behind."
Two members of the group reached the Pole of Inaccessibility, he said.
"The actual pole itself is right on the bush line, so it goes from rainforest to tussock tops. We sort of we wandered around struggling to find it. It was a beautiful place, and it was lucky there was a bit of a view from the point.
"It could have easily been just in the middle of the jungle on a steep face, but luckily it was just above the bush line so we could see Mount Aspiring as the sun was setting. So, a pretty special place."
He said the spot was between 50 and 70 kilometres from the road.
"There's nothing quite like the feeling of being in some of that extremely remote country, seeing a lot of our native species as well. We saw whio and kea and rifleman and those are the pretty special moments that break up what can be a lot of suffering, with packs that big and days that long."
When finding the exact spot, he said they had a bit of confusion over the GPS coordinates.
"We had a GPS and a phone telling us different things. It's very difficult to pinpoint the exact metre."
He said he reckons the group is the first with intentions to adventure out to the point.
"I think back in the days of deer culling, when they were flying around with helicopters, there would have been people who would have been to that little spur and basin before.
"Had anyone actually walked over that exact point, I think would be extremely unlikely.
"I think it was just a little bit of luck from us that no one had tried to go there in recent years. It was only a relatively recently identified point."
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