Having left the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong to arrive in tranquil New Zealand, I've been searching for a new path to enrich my life - try to live life to the fullest.

Years of hiking experience on an offshore island in Hong Kong led me to hiking in the mountains in New Zealand.

It all started after a brief hiking holiday in a national park in Tuscany, Italy about four years ago. A pleasant week of walking in the hills in Tuscany brought back memories of hiking in Hong Kong, which, when I thought about it, was the major thing I really missed about our life in Hong Kong (along with friends of course).

My husband and I promptly joined one local Tramping Club. Tramping is the Kiwi term for hiking. We started to explore our local hills.

Quickly, we proceeded from doing one-day walks to multi-day tramping, which involved carrying a massive pack weighing anywhere between 16kg to 26kg (30 to 60 pounds), walking into mountains from three to seven days. The reason for having to carry such a heavy weight in New Zealand was that, unlike more populated places like Europe, this beautiful country with dramatic mountains, alpine lakes and numerous tracks had but a small population of only four million people and no commercial accommodations, food and bedding in the mountains. In our pack we carried our tent, sleeping bag, gas, portable stove, food for the duration of the trip, plus first aid kit, map, compass, and safety equipment.

Carrying such a heavy pack tramping five to eight hours a day in the remote mountains, often on steep and rough terrain for days, "What's the pleasure?" is the question often asked by friends who do not participate in this activity.

Well, there is no simple answer. For us, this is a life changing experience. It's all about going into nature finding out the relationship between nature and human beings.

Thousands of years of evolution and development led the majority of us to live in an "artificial" environment ever since we were born. Our very existence relies on technology.

When we left the city into the mountains for days, we went back to a basic way of living in a natural environment. On our back we carried all the things we needed or might need for several days. We often joked that we carried our entire home on our back.

To protect the environment, we took out whatever we brought in, including rubbish of course. "Take only photos; leave only footprints". For this reason, we only carried the very essentials without extra baggage. All dehydrated food. Considering the amount of rubbish we chuck out every day at home, it's surprising to find the rubbish we produced in a week in the mountains the size of two fists and weighing little.

There were no luxurious mansions here, no fancy cars, nor pollution of any sort, only the clearest water, cleanest air and the best view in the world. On top of it, there's no petrol consumption.

Looking at the vastly receding glacier and permanent snow line, we had a clearer view about global warming and environmental protection.

Coming back to city from mountains every time, we were happy to have our first shower in several days and all the other luxuries available in a civilized society. On the other hand, we looked at our life and the world around in a new perspective. Our life and view have been changed forever.

Over the years we have extensively tramped in New Zealand and explored the European Alps and South American Andes. We'll be soon setting out to explore the Himalaya in Nepal.

Thirteen years have passed since we moved to New Zealand. We now feel we are fitter than ever; older, wiser and fitter!

We often laughed that, when we once hiked on an offshore island in Hong Kong, we met some young hikers carrying huge multi-day packs on their backs and I asked them to let me put their pack on my back for a photo. That was some twenty years ago. Now we ourselves carry packs of the same size (if not bigger!) into mountains for days.

Yesterday we were in Wanaka, a scenic alpine resort town in South Island, New Zealand, watching an exciting international triathlon competition which involved 3.8km swimming, 180km cycling and 42.2km running. The competition started at 7 a.m. in the chilly mountain air. By about 3:30 p.m., some 8 hours 30 minutes later, the winner came back, followed by other competitors ... ... After the daylight faded on a long summer day, the crowd still lined the street. Shortly after midnight, around 12:30 a.m., there was a huge roar in the crowd -- a 72-year-"young" competitor came to the finish line, some 17 and a half hours after the starting time!

"It's all in the mind."