Grant “John” Cadoret was passing through town on his way to Queensland, having made his way from the south, up through Deniliquin and West Wyalong to Temora, before finding his way to Young, a town he said he has visited “a couple of times before.”

Mr Cadoret has been walking the roads of eastern Australia for over a quarter of a century, having turned his back on the conventions of modern day life, instead choosing the life of a wanderer and going wherever the road leads.

After throwing in his job in a bank in 1977, Mr Cadoret decided to take to the road, saying he would be back in a few months but what would turn out to be decades, without any contact with his family until writer Allan Nixon came across Mr Cadoret on the road in 2003.

His unusual story, and Mr Nixon’s efforts to reunite the family, came to feature on the ABC’s Australian Story in 2004 and the show has lead to more recognition of John as he walks around the country.

He smiled when asked about being recognised and said on some occasions people have been lined up to say hello and have a chat, almost always wanting a photograph, something which he has become used to.

He is friendly and more than happy to talk about his lifestyle and said there is nothing he misses about the life he left behind.

“There’s nobody telling me what to do, I can get up when I want and if I don’t feel like walking I’ll sit under a tree and read,” Mr Cadoret said.

“I spend most of the day walking but I might do about 20km a day,” he said.

He survives by scavenging food thrown away and drinking from discarded drink bottles and collecting money he finds along the road.

“I pick up a lot of coins by the roadside, it’s surprising how much you find,” he said.

As Mr Cadoret sat in the shade outside Woolworths on Thursday, after buying a rare luxury, a fresh bottle of Coke, well wishers came past and gave him a bunch of bananas, one of the perks of being recognised.