Ultra-endurance cyclist, Michael Davey, rode a pushbike 14,000 kilometres around Australia, including Tasmania, and the bestselling author lived to tell the tale in his latest book, Journey of Charity.
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On his epic quest, the child advocate was also raising much-needed funds for the Kids With Cancer Foundation.
With his wife, Barbara following him in a support vehicle, the adventurous cyclist left Nowra in February, 2014 and headed north, riding around Australia in a anti-clockwise direction.
Along the way, he faced many challenges.
"The outback was oppressively hot. The temperature was in the 40s day after day and I was continually dehydrated,” Mr Davey said.
"I was almost bitten by a snake and the flies were so bad I had to ride in a fly net."
The longest section of the ride was 2,400-kilometres from Broome to Perth, which he covered in just 14 days.
"Coming down the coast of Western Australia I had so much more endurance and stamina and I could ride all day long," he said.
"But to do so, I needed a large intake of water and electrolytes, and bucket loads of high-energy food such as nuts, tuna, rice and fruit including bananas.
“To get the energy needed, I had to eat five huge meals a day.”
Mr Davey encountered some massive road trains coming down the west coast.
"When I was near Port Hedland, the 'big rigs' had almost 100 wheels and they blew me around like I was a feather as they thundered past," he said.
On the Nullarbor crossing, Mr Davey clocked up almost 700 kilometres in only four days.
One of his dreams to ride 300 kilometres in the one day.
"I was thrilled to be able to achieve this on the Nullarbor Plain, which included Australia's longest, straight stretch of highway, all 145.6 kilometres of it,” he said.
“It was amazing to ride that far and not see a single bend or curve.”
The intrepid duo took six months to complete their remarkable journey and managed to raise $36,000 for children suffering cancer.
Along the way, Mr Davey took thousands of landscape photographs, the best of which have been recently published in his book, Journey of Charity; The Photographic Odyssey.
This book and the written story of Mr Davey's ride, Journey of Charity, will be launched at the Shoalhaven City Library on Thursday, December 8, 5:45 for 6pm, where Mr Davey will be interviewed by South Coast Register journalist, Robert Crawford, concerning his epic 14,000 kilometre odyssey.
Books will be available for purchase at the launch, but there will be no eftpos facilities, so cash only.
