Brando Yelavich's triumphant completion of his 8000-kilometre trek around the coastline of New Zealand was delayed briefly on Saturday afternoon, while he enjoyed a brief swim directly beneath the Cape Reinga lighthouse.
Uniquely, perhaps, the 20-year-old Greenhithe (Auckland) man took just a few minutes to cross from the Pacific tothe Tasman before shedding his clothes and striding into the water. Then he made his way up his final hill to the lighthouse, where family, friends and TV cameras were waiting for him with Croatian and New Zealand flags, cheers and a cacophony of noise from vuvuzelas (the instrument that featured prominently at the 2010 Fifa World Cup tournament in South Africa).
As he reached the rock wall in front of the lighthouse he raised his arms and declared, "I'm back!"
Earlier Brando's father Todd had attached an addition to the famous signpost in front of the lighthouse, pointing south to the 'Wildboy Trail,' while the gathering waited for him to come into sight far below.
Brando had a few things to say before he finally stepped over the wall and on to the lighthouse ground though, thanking the "best Dad in the world," his Mum, sister, girlfriend, his sponsors and the people of New Zealand.
"My next adventure is called life. That's where I'm headed," he added.
After posing beneath the signpost for a TVNZ crew and photographers, and clambering up on to the lighthouse balcony to wave a flag, he marched up the hill to the carpark, where one final photo was taken, before heading to Kaitaia for a feed of fish and chips and a good night's sleep in a comfortable bed (with a memory pillow delivered from Auckland by his mother).
But this was only the beginning, he said. He had raised more than $30,000 for Ronald McDonald House, but more importantly had hopefully opened career doors. A children's book was one ambition, while he hoped to find work in television, with the aim of inspiring young people.
He had certainly inspired himself, he said, adding that he had begun his journey (on February 1 last year) as a boy and had finished it as a man.
The final stage of the trek had been timed for a Saturday afternoon finish, Brando spending three nights last week at great aunt and uncle Anna and Drago Yelavich's home in Kaitaia, and adding more public speaking engagements to a lengthy list compiled over the previous 19 months. And he had plenty to tell, including being rescued from a rising tide at Muriwai and a near-fatal river crossing in Golden Bay.
