Today, Tri Nguyen took the final step in his journey to Canberra to raise awareness of refugee issues.
"It's just overwhelming with joy. It's fantastic. I felt like dancing," he says.
It was a trek unlike most.
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Mr Nguyen walked for 35 days -- over 670 kilometres -- as a pilgrimage of thanks to the country that welcomed him.
Accompanied by three Iranian asylum seekers, Linda, Daniel and Majid, Tri stopped at country towns throughout the journey, staying as guests in peoples' homes.
"The hosts just embraced each of us, particularly the three asylum seekers," he says.
Mr Nguyen says the trek was inspired by his own journey to Australia.
He and his family fled Vietnam in the aftermath of the war in 1982, arriving in Australia by boat.
But Mr Nguyen says the trip to Australia was a very different journey to the one he took today.
"We were captured by pirates who would torture and harm for four days and cage us," he says.
"It was a traumatic time."
Mr Nguyen says he hopes his pilgrimage across three states will change the political conversation around asylum seekers.
"We are at our best when we welcome the stranger. We are at our best as Australians when we care for the most vulnerable in our community," he says.
"And we are at our best when we work for justice for those who have lost everything in life and have gone through so much suffering. That's Australia at its best."
