JOHN Cadoret is a fair dinkum Aussie swagman.
For the past 35 years he has lived on the road, walking across the barren landscapes of Australia and sleeping under the stars.
His favourite place is the Hay Plains because it is “deadset flat” and “you can see a car coming for 15 minutes before it passes you”.
He doesn’t rely on the dole or government handouts – he lives off coins left on the side of the road.
Mr Cadoret passed through Wagga this week, en route from Queensland to Ballarat to see his sister for a couple of days.
“I just like my life, I’m happy, I wander at my own pace,” he said.
“I’m just easy come, easy go.
“I aim for the next highway or the next bend around the road.”
After his story was told on the ABC’s Australian Story in 2004, Mr Cadoret has become somewhat of a legend – people know his story, what he does, and will stop to talk to him.
“I don’t worry about it, I don’t know what’s so interesting,” he said of people’s fascination surrounding the way he lives.
At the age of 22, Mr Cadoret had a well-paid job in a Melbourne bank but one day he decided he didn’t want to live that way for the next 20 years.
“I had a bit of a reputation as a party boy,” he said of his formative teenage years among friends and family.
It was initially supposed to be a three-month trip, Mr Cadoret said, but time just kept passing by.
Eventually 25 years were spent on the road with no explanation, or contact with his family.
That was until one man heard his story and decided to contact them for him.
Even after seeing his family again, Mr Cadoret chose to continue his lifestyle although he made a promise to write a letter every month.
“Nothing is worth regretting, you just got to make up for it,” he said when asked about the pain he caused his family by disappearing.
If Mr Cadoret would like a drink he will take it from a leftover bottle or can left on the side of the road.
Washing and cleaning doesn’t bother him because the rain “moves the dirt around and it provides protection from the sun”.
He lives on a diet of baked beans, noodles and spaghetti.
Mr Cadoret has just finished reading the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and listens to ABC radio every now and then if he feels like he needs company.
In all these years he has been travelling, his bag has only been stolen twice and that’s the only trouble he has ever had.
When asked if he thought he would come back to Wagga again during another walk around Australia, Mr Cadoret said he probably would although he doesn’t make plans.
“I just want to walk, as long as my body holds up. I have no plan to stop,” he said.
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