Peter Schefe and Orange man Ben Crosby did it on foot.

The two close friends have recently returned from their five-month adventure, which took them through some of Australia’s most beautiful and treacherous places.

With the exception of one short lift with the Queensland police, they walked the entire way.

“We got a lift from Cairns to the top of a mountain with the police because they said we weren’t allowed to walk up that particular road,” Mr Schefe said.

The walk was something Mr Schefe had been considering for a decade.

“About 10 years ago I was in Byron Bay and I really wanted to go north and have a look. I thought, ‘one day I’m just going to walk across Queensland and have a stickybeak’. Ben was the only one crazy enough that I could think of to come with me, and he’s one of my closest mates,” he said.

The pair walked as far as they could most days, following both main roads and lesser-known tracks, as well as going bush.

They slept in camping grounds where they were available and otherwise under bridges or beside the road.

Mr Crosby said the two set out without any plan except the final destination in mind. Their lack of preparation meant they often relied on the kindness of strangers and spent time in places they had little knowledge of.

“The whole thing was quite unprepared. We took a few shortcuts, and we spent a lot of time on the Bruce Highway. I liked little towns like Tully, and the rainforests. And in Cape York, the people up there are so amazing. They’ve got fishing down to an art form,” he said.

“We had a field guide of bush tucker and we found some, but a lot of native food takes extensive preparation. Often we were just living mainly off fruit. We did some long stretches without water, and we didn’t get a water purifier until later in the trip,” he said.

One moment from the trip stands out in Mr Crosby’s mind.

“In the middle of nowhere we found a kelpie who looked like he was starving. I just had an instant connection with him. We managed to use some of our rations to get him through and we also found a dead bird. Out of nowhere we came across a station and they took him. They were feeding him lamb shanks. They topped up our rations and we did a bit of work for them. They saved the dog and they saved us,” he said.

Hunger and the prospect of dehydration was not the only danger the pair faced.

“We had to walk across the Jardine River, which is full of crocodiles. We took a wrong turn. I actually nearly froze with fear. That was horrific. But on the other side it was such an adrenaline rush,” Mr Crosby said.

The pair say their friendship was strengthened rather than tested by the long period of time together.

“We had probably half an hour of open anger towards each other in the whole time. The rest of the time we were fine,” Mr Schefe said.

The final stretch of the journey took the young adventurers to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula.

Mr Crosby said the moment of reaching the destination was not what he had expected.

“To be honest, it was weird. You have to climb up a cliff face and walk through rainforest. I thought I’d get down on my knees and cry like in a movie. The road actually just stopped, and there was nowhere else to go. It was almost an anticlimax, and then we looked at how amazing and beautiful it was,” he said.

Mr Crosby is living in Orange “until the next adventure”, while Mr Schefe now lives in Leura.

Mr Schefe said he had a sense of achievement after making it the whole way.

“Just an overall sense that I can do something I decide to do, no matter how absurd it is. And there are some places you don’t really appreciate until you’re walking through them,” he said.

Mr Crosby said the journey had awakened a taste for adventure in him.

“It’s in my nature and Pete’s as well. A lot of people said we were irresponsible. I loved it. It fed some hunger in me that I can’t explain. I kind of want to be back out there. I don’t have a fear now of walking down the road in any direction”.