Torbjørn "Thor" Pedersen never expected his ambitious round-the-world trip would take him the better part of a decade when he left his native Denmark.
The 43-year-old traveller has his sights set on becoming the first person to visit every country on the globe in an unbroken journey without air travel.
"I've now come to 196 countries without flying and I haven't been home," he said.
Mr Pedersen arrived in North Queensland on a cargo ship from Hong Kong last month after being stranded for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He is about to set sail to New Zealand in the final stretch of a complicated, exhausting and life-changing journey.
Making memories in Australia
Mr Pedersen has travelled via bus from Townsville to Brisbane, then onto Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmania in the past seven weeks.
"When people ask me could I see myself living anywhere else, from all the countries I've visited, Australia is one of those countries," he said.
The Danish Red Cross ambassador has amassed a significant international audience who eagerly follow his travels online.
"So many people have been reaching out, offering me a beer or a place to stay or to guide me around – people have been super welcoming," he said.
"There was a family who had hosted me in PNG and now live in Brisbane, so they took me in and I stayed with them."
He said he felt the weight of his age in Sydney when he then checked into a hostel for the first time in two years.
Mr Pedersen was visited by his father from Denmark for the first time in four and a half years while he was in Sydney.
He was also reunited with his wife, who he had only been able to see sporadically since 2013.
A trip to the Blue Mountains was among their highlights.
"I've seen lots of mountains and great landscapes and I'd say that that ranks up pretty high," he said.
"Some of the views you get up in the Blue Mountains are truly astonishing."
Seven countries to go
After several weeks of negotiations with shipping companies and immigration authorities, Mr Pedersen will spend the coming week or so travelling via cargo ship from Melbourne to New Zealand.
He then plans to visit Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.
"And then from there, I need to go all the way across to the Indian Ocean, which is far away, especially when you're not flying, and then visit Sri Lanka, and then the Maldives," he said.
He expected the remainder of the journey would take at least another year.
Sacrifice and perseverance
Mr Pedersen said much of the trip had not been smooth sailing.
"I've definitely considered giving up and I came very, very close to giving up back in 2015," he said.
He said the project was now "10-per-cent per cent adventure, 90-per-cent work", with many hours spent behind the scenes on logistics getting from one place to another.
"There are a great deal of countries that just make it mind-bogglingly difficult, and you have to jump through so many hoops to get the paperwork in order and the signatures and the stamps and all sorts of permissions," he said.
"All of this was supposed to take less than four years and we're eight-and-a-half years in now, so it weighs heavily on my mind."
But Mr Pedersen said he had taken solace in the "extraordinary resilience" of the people he had met around the world.
"It's wonderful to see that human spirit – we always seem to bounce back," he said.
Mr Pedersen said he hoped to start a family and write a book about his adventures when he finally arrived back home in Denmark.
