This week that includes Blayney as he makes his way through the Central West.

Walking along the east coast of Australia, he survives by his own bushcraft and the kindness of passing motorists.

He left his job as a banker in 1978 for a three-month hitchhiking holiday around Australia.

But he never returned to the normal trappings of life, and lives off the grid with no phone, house, car, welfare or even a Medicare card. 

“I just decided to keep doing it,” he said. “I’m just happy doing what I do.”

He caught lifts for the first five years of his adventure, but for the past 35 years he has walked everywhere carrying an enormous backpack, a change of clothes, a swag and a tarp.

And while he’s a loner, he’s certainly not lonely, as he is becoming somewhat of a social media identity with a Facebook page dedicated to his travels. 

Grant said people often pull up and offer him a lift, which he declines, because he loves to walk along.

He walks about 10 kilometres a day, taking in the countryside, and pulls up stumps when his body tells him he is tired.

“I just lie down under a bush for the night,” he said. 

Even when it’s in the middle of winter, he camps by the road.

And he meets plenty of people along the way.

On Sunday evening, Alicia Horton and her dad met Grant and saw he really needed new walking boots because his old ones were worn and hurting his feet.

So they brought new ones for him and dropped them back out on Monday, much to Grant’s surprise.

“There’s always someone looking after me,” he said.