Anne Henley is doing Walk1200km to put her new hip through its paces. 

Anne Henley lives on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, but calls herself a QueeNZlander. A deep family history has seen Henley visit New Zealand countless times, usually with one thing in mind: walking. 

Growing up on the edge of the bush in Sydney, Henley was on the move from a young age. 

“My mother remembers me crawling off in pursuit of our two red setter dogs, out the back gate and into the bush. She would watch me until she couldn’t see my nappy anymore.”

However, Henley’s lifelong love of walking was in danger of being snuffed out prematurely by chronic hip pain. In December 2020, she had a hip replacement, which she says has been life changing.  

“The Walk1200km challenge came up at about the time I was starting to walk again. It was a road test.”

“It’s been a great way for me to stay on track with my mobility goals,” she says. “I’ve clocked up 500km and I’ve been exploring areas I would have never ventured into before. The operation gave me my life back, and I don’t want to waste a second of it.”